


(In)human Behaviors, Analyzed

by ghxstlyscene



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: + lotsss of other characters, ADD/ADHD Skye | Daisy Johnson, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hydra (Marvel), Inhumans (Marvel), Multi, Slow Burn, aos canon divergent from s4 end, background jemily (eventually), but eventually branches off, criminal minds canon compliant from mid s5, mentions of avengers but no cameos bc we don't need them, morgan's a flirt but what's new, mostly daisy pov, no time travel, penelope and daisy brotp, so like we ever gonna talk about how daisy could run laps around the avengers or, timelines? What timelines?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:42:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28634181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghxstlyscene/pseuds/ghxstlyscene
Summary: As S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to expand, it's imperative for the agency to remain in the American government's good graces unless they want to go underground and work from the shadows again. Daisy Johnson's been tasked with leading a new S.H.I.E.L.D. department specializing in the protection of powered people, and to keep the government from shutting it down, she has to partner up with FBI.Really, she already has to deal with an unknown enemy abducting Inhumans before S.H.I.E.L.D. can reach them. Having to work with the Feds might just be the tip of the iceberg.
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Aaron Hotchner
Comments: 39
Kudos: 121





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> so before we start, some notes about this universe:
> 
> \- aos canon divergent from s4B. the Framework still happened, but LMD Daisy never shot Talbot and they were never sent to the future. and Coulson's not dying. and the playground was rebuilt.
> 
> \- cm canon compliant until daisy enters, around mid s5
> 
> \- several background ships!
> 
> \- i feel like daisy's powers never reached the potential it could on the show. like, jiaying literally said she could feel/hear vibrations. there was that scene in s2 where daisy shaped the faucet water and it was never discussed again. so i'm trying to explore that a little more in this fic.
> 
> \- it's never stated daisy has adhd but i have it and there's no way she doesn't so
> 
> \- typical cm and aos levels of violence/blood. talks of death, assault, torture, etc. I'll put warnings on each chapter that deals with heavy topics.
> 
> \- i'm stealing several characters/plots from aos seasons 5-7 but without space and time travel, mostly because i hate heaps of ocs in fics
> 
> \- i loved the aos finale but also i feel like they've hinted since the end of season 2 that daisy would start up her own version of afterlife so i'm bitter that's not what show ended with?? anyway i'm giving her something like that here

If Daisy had her way, they wouldn’t have to work with the FBI at all.

Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D. is technically a government agency as well, but they weren’t nearly as much in the limelight as the FBI and CIA were. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s rules were always more flexible, the stakes always higher. And being in the director’s inner circle of agents meant she knew she could trust their system, and that she had easy access to the big man himself if she didn’t agree with a decision he made.

The _FBI_ , though...she didn’t even want to think about the sheer amount of rigid rules and protocols that held the Bureau up. She gets frustrated enough with S.H.I.E.L.D’s policies as is.

(Her time as a solo vigilante wasn’t _fun_ , but she definitely misses how she could do what she thought was right without a second thought. Granted, she was also getting hunted down by the Watchdogs and feds alike, but still.)

But S.H.I.E.L.D. reestablished their link with the government, meaning playing by the rules while in their presence. And also meaning Daisy is representing the re-instated director Coulson. And seeing as she’s now trusted to manage her own department of the agency, she has to _represent them in a good light_ , or whatever.

 _(“You’re going to meet the chief by yourself tomorrow to discuss possible plans to move forward,” Coulson had explained in his office. “From there, you can decide the best course of action. But for_ god’s sake _, Daisy, don’t do anything to make them regret talking with us.”_

_Daisy rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I know. I got this. Why do you think I’m gonna do something to jeopardize this?”_

_Coulson merely raised his eyebrows. It’s not like she couldn’t follow orders. Fine, she wasn’t exactly_ nice _to Rosalind when they worked with the ATCU, and she might have spent months on the run, and so what if she nearly threw her place in S.H.I.E.L.D. away again when she knew Vijay Nadeer was in danger, and maybe she -_

_Okay, fine. She could see where he was coming from._

_Whenever she didn’t agree with something here, she was always free to voice her opinions for or against it. She couldn’t do that when trying to build positive relations with other agencies._

_“Alright, stop looking at me like that,” she sighed. “I’ll behave. Scout’s honor.”)_

She’s pulled out of her thoughts by the office door opening. The Chief - Erin Strauss - enters, looking over to find Daisy already seated. “Agent Johnson, yes? I was told you already came in. I apologize for being late.”

And to think Coulson worried _Daisy_ would show up late.

Nevertheless, she smiles and rises from her seat to shake Chief Strauss’s hand. “It’s no problem, Chief Strauss. Thank you so much for meeting with me.”

A tight smile graces Strauss’s lips as she nods and makes her way to her chair. “Well, I won’t lie that I’m a little curious as to why the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. himself requested for you to meet with me.”

It takes all of May’s training for Daisy not to react to Strauss’s response, but still she feels her jaw tense. Coulson had implied that _Strauss_ made this request. Not that _he_ was sending _Daisy_ to strike an agreement. And if she acted like she had no idea what was happening, she’d look like a complete idiot, or “represent S.H.I.E.L.D. awfully.”

_That fucker._

The smile on Daisy’s face, though, never wavers. “Oh, I’m sorry. Coulson didn’t fill you in on anything when he talked to you?”

Strauss shakes her head. “Only that it pertains to how the Bureau can assist in the protection of powered individuals.”

So Daisy couldn’t bullshit her way out of this. Coulson’s gonna get an earful from her when she’s back at HQ.

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m here to talk about.” Daisy clears her throat, shuffling to sit straighter in her chair as she finds the right words. She didn’t exactly come prepared to propose the idea herself. “As I’m sure you’re aware of, ever since the Battle of New York, the public has grown more and more aware of the presence of powered people among us. Even two years ago, there was the sudden surge of Inhuman appearances leading to the creation, and the eventual fall, of the ATCU.” The FBI didn’t need to know that S.H.I.E.L.D. (primarily Daisy, honestly, she thought with a barely restrained wince) was behind the surge.

Strauss purses her lips and leans forward in her seat, elbows against the desk. “Yes, I’m aware. Though as I’m sure you know, the Bureau doesn’t handle cases with these individuals. _Your_ agency does.”

“Not intentionally, I know.” At the chief’s confused look, Daisy continues. “What I’m here to say is that we know the FBI would never intentionally involve themselves into that type of work, but as more of these individuals pop up, the more likely your agency is to accidentally stumble upon an investigation dealing with Inhumans, not knowing better. And with crimes against Inhumans on the rise, it could inadvertently affect your work.”

The confused look on Strauss’s face hasn’t shifted at all since Daisy spoke. The only indicator she has that the chief isn’t completely freaking out internally is the steady heartbeat Daisy can feel vibrating off of the chief.

Daisy should have known better when Coulson sent her here. Why would the FBI ever actually want to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. when they probably don’t even give two shits about people like her? Strauss is probably trying to think of some way to tell Daisy to screw off and never come back. Which Daisy will gladly obey.

To her surprise, though, Strauss just says, “so where does the Bureau fit into this?”

Daisy swallows her nerves. “I’m the head of the Inhuman and Powered Individuals Department for S.H.I.E.L.D., something we created not long ago in response to recent events. As the person in charge of protecting these people, or protecting the world _from_ these people if need be, I want to ask for any FBI cases suspected to be the product of powered individuals to be sent to S.H.I.E.L.D., or my department more specifically.”

“You must know for a fact, Agent Johnson, that we already do that,” Strauss says drily. Well, Daisy knows there’s no other way to get out of this now. She heaves in a deep breath.

“I’m currently establishing safe houses and bases for these individuals if they’re deemed unfit to control their powers at the time, as well as for if they’re being targeted. We’re not training them to be agents or anything, unless one wants to become an agent, that is. We’re just trying to ensure their safety.” Strauss stares Daisy dead in the eye, clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop. “And to do that, we’re no longer going to be using an Index the government can access to track down these people, their whereabouts, or their gifts.”

Strauss blinks - a brief flicker of surprise, before quickly composing to pinched brows. “Absolutely not,” she scoffs, looking at Daisy as if she’s out of her mind. “I understand you wanting to keep these people safe, Agent Johnson, but you know the Bureau, let alone the _President_ , will never allow that. Any of these people can still end up killing on the streets using their powers and we wouldn’t know any better.”

Daisy resists the urge to roll her eyes. Like she hasn’t heard that argument a thousand times. “I know, Chief Strauss, believe me. I’ve had first hand-experience with violent Inhumans myself. But in our experience, the Index only puts these people even more at risk. Hackers with the right skills can access the information, mole agents can use the list to track and kill them, it’s too easy for the information to fall into the wrong hands. And these people deserve to live a normal life without feeling like they’ve been branded.”

Strauss huffs through her nose, red beginning to form around her ears. Daisy doesn’t need powers to know the chief’s heart is quickening. From fear or rage, Daisy’s not sure. Maybe both. “Then how do you plan on protecting them without knowing where they are?”

“There won’t be an Index anymore, or a tracker tailed on these people, but as head of the department I’ll have access to this information.”

“Of course,” Strauss snaps. “Planning on keeping it all to yourself? When lives could be at stake?” Daisy takes a deep breath to keep from accidentally quaking the room. “Not only is that irresponsible, it’s - “

“It won’t be just me,” Daisy interrupts, patience is hanging by a thin wire. _You can’t quake a Bureaucrat, Daisy_. “I of course have a close team I trust with the information - “

“But just your fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents? After everything that’s already happened in your agency - “

“ - and, if you’re willing, select agents from the Bureau of your choosing.”

Strauss cuts off abruptly, then, shoulders still tense and mouth pinched into a thin line. She folds her hand together and nods, urging Daisy to continue.

“I know I can’t grant that information to just high clearance S.H.I.E.L.D. agents without creating suspicion and getting shut down. But I know you must have a few agents you trust with the information. To work with us occasionally on behalf of the FBI.”

Strauss frowns, this time more in contemplation than anything else. Daisy’s chest relaxes at the gesture. “And what all would these agents be doing?”

“I’ll be in charge of the relocation, training, and the overall health and safety, of course,” Daisy insists. Like hell she’ll trust anyone else other than her team with that. “But to ensure we’re still doing this with government approval, we’ll need an outside source to confirm that these Inhumans aren’t a threat. People without powers, of course, who aren’t affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D., but can still be unbiased and collected about their professional opinions.”

The room settles in silence. Strauss doesn’t make any move to speak, only nods to herself, as if she’s mulling her choices over. She crosses her arms and slowly leans back from the desk and into her chair. “So they would essentially confirm that these people you’re protecting aren’t actual threats?”

“Yes,” Daisy confirms. Strauss hums under her breath. “Of course, though, if you do agree to this and I suspect that the chosen agents are biased against Inhumans, I _won’t_ tolerate it at all.”

Strauss doesn’t look put off at all by the underlying threat in Daisy’s voice. “Any agent I pick, then?”

From Coulson’s idea, yes. But Daisy wasn’t going to agree so easily.

“As long as I approve of them and have believable proof that they can do this job, yes.”

“And would these agents be benefitted in any way, at all? Payment wise or other?”

Well, Daisy hadn’t thought about that. In her defense, though, she thought this was Strauss’s idea until, like, five minutes ago.

“If you ever need my, or S.H.I.E.L.D.’s, expertise on anything, I’m available as a consultant. Other than that, I’m sure we can work something out.” As long as it doesn’t cut out of Daisy’s paycheck, this is a _Coulson_ problem.

Strauss nods thoughtfully. She lowers her arms and leans forward again, previous anger and disbelief gone from her features. “Okay, Agent Johnson. I believe we can make this work.”

Daisy can’t decide if she’s happy or upset at the chief’s answer. She smiles anyway. “Thank you so much, Chief Strauss. I know this must be unorthodox for your organization.”

Strauss smiles tightly, like she’s not exactly sure what to make of this exchange either. “Yes, well, I suppose I can understand where you’re coming from. We still have a lot more to discuss, though, if you want this to work out.”

Daisy hums in agreement. “Yes, of course. Are you still available to discuss more about this right now, or do we need to reschedule at a later date?” She silently prays for the latter.

Strauss briefly checks her watch before looking back at Daisy. “We can discuss for a few more minutes before I have to leave for a meeting.”

And, truth be told, Daisy didn’t really expect to get this far, so she doesn’t know what topic to broach first. Right now she kind of just wants to call Coulson and yell at him for getting her tangled in this mess.

“Great,” Daisy says brightly. “I guess to start, are there any particular agents you have in mind? It doesn't need to be many. Honestly, I can work with only one so you don’t have to worry about so many moving pieces.” The less, Daisy thinks, the better.

“Not a particular agent, no,” Strauss says. “But I do have a unit in mind, all with agents capable of the position you’ve described.”

Daisy blinks at the quick answer. “Really? I didn’t expect for you to think of an answer so soon. What unit is it?”

“The Behavioral Analysis Unit. Of course, there won’t be time for you to meet any of them today - I don’t even believe they’re in the office right now. But should we reach an agreement and continue forward, I’ll be glad to introduce you.”

Well, at least _one_ of them was looking forward to that.

* * *

“What the hell is _wrong with you?_ ” Daisy seethes as she marches into Coulson’s office. He doesn’t look up from the stack of paperwork on his desk.

“Why yes, Daisy, please come in. Thank you for knocking,” he says drily.

“ _Why_ did you lead me to believe it was Strauss that requested the meeting when it was _you_ all along?” she continued, arms crossed. Coulson still didn’t look up. “You said _she_ came up with the idea!”

He finally raised his head from the stack, his normal “ _no i’m not a super spy look how innocent I am”_ smile on his lips, and Daisy would rather him yell right back at her.

“Would you have arranged a meeting with the FBI if I had told you to?” he asks.

She huffed through her nose. “Maybe! If I actually knew what it was for!”

A disbelieving look crosses his expression. “If we want this Department, we have to prove that we’re not trying to create an army of Inhumans or else the president, or worse, the _Senate_ , will shut us down. Showing that we’re trusting agents of the FBI, and that they trust _us_ , will ensure we have executive approval.”

“Yeah, I know all that from when you _explained_ it to me, saying _Strauss_ came up with it.” Daisy throws her hands in the air and tosses her head back. “I get it Coulson, really, but why didn’t just ask me to do it?”

“Really? You would willingly ask a federal agency to send agents to keep tabs on your department?” Daisy glares at him. “Yeah, thought so. We _both_ know how you feel about this.”

Fine, she probably wouldn’t. But really, she hasn’t exactly had the best experience working with other government agencies as an Inhumans expert, so can you blame her?

“I want you to run this department, Daisy,” Coulson continues, “and I listened to the fears you gave me earlier when we talked about this. Safehouses, no Index list, training, only the people you trust can know locations. This is the only way we can make it happen. You know more than anyone that if we just try to hide this, it’s only a matter of time before someone finds out.”

She hates how much sense he makes sometimes.

“Fine. I know,” she admits, dragging herself to the chair across from him and plopping down. “You’re still a dick, though.”

He raises his eyebrows at her. “You know, you’re the only person that can ever get away with calling the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. that.”

“Oh please, like May hasn’t called you worse when she’s mad at you.”

He hums, as if to say, _okay, fair_. “So, I’m assuming the meeting went well then, otherwise? She’s agreed?”

“She wants to discuss it more, things like what exactly their agents would do and what the agency would get out of it. I gave her my info so she can contact me about meeting again.”

Coulson nods. “Good. I’m sure we can work something out. I’ve heard Strauss can be tough to negotiate with, but I’m sure even she has to realize that without S.H.I.E.L.D.,the FBI would be dealing with a lot worse. She hasn’t come up with any agents yet, has she?”

“Not exactly,” Daisy says. She picks at the skin around her fingernails. “But she mentioned a unit. Heard of the BAU?”

“The Behavioral Analysis Unit?” Coulson asks. He picks his pen back up and continues whatever paperwork he was working on. “I heard they do some good work. Anyone from there can’t be a bad idea.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Daisy shoots up from the chair. “Well, that’s all, Director. Simmons agreed to give check-ups to some Potentials and we need to head out.”

“Alright. Be careful out there.” From anyone else, Daisy would think that comment meant they believed she couldn’t handle herself. But she knows Coulson, and knows that no matter how close or far her or any of her team is, or what sort of assignment they’re are doing, he’s always mindful of their safety. “And remember to report back by Wednesday night at the latest. I need you for an operation on Thursday.”

“Copy that, sir.” She gives a two finger salute before slinking out of the office. Maybe she could work her way around this. It wouldn’t be hard for her to hack into the FBI database, maybe plant a virus that would take time to purge from their systems and -

She hears Coulson’s shout of _“don’t even think about hacking into the FBI!”_ from down the hall and _damn._ Maybe he knows her a little _too_ well.

* * *

Thursday’s mission includes Daisy, Mack, Yo-yo, the recently returned Bobbi, and a small number of backup combat operatives. They all meet at the Playground in Coulson’s office in the morning to go over the op, each holding a tablet with mission details.

The mission’s simple enough: even though Hydra’s major power players and bases of operations have been destroyed, it’s possible that a few stragglers managed to escape and met at a safe location. Security cameras caught a number of wanted Hydra agents in the same city, and it’s their priority to find where their base is and find any information their systems have. Mack’s appointed the mission leader, Bobbi around for tactile support, Yo-yo for possible infiltration, and Daisy for information downloading and possible combat.

“I don’t feel good about this,” Daisy says when their mission team is in the Zephyr. Mack’s piloting, Bobbi’s sitting next to him, and Daisy and Yo-yo are standing in front of the command center, reading up on the Hydra agents surveillance picked up. “I mean, these guys have to know how to avoid detection. They know how to avoid cameras.”

Yo-yo frowns, still not tearing her eyes away from the screen. “You think this could be a trap?”

Mack and Bobbi walk into the room from the cockpit. “It’s possible,” Bobbi agrees, moving to stand by Daisy, “but we can’t just not investigate. Besides, we’re not there to take their base down, just gather intel.”

Mack breathes a laugh and shakes his head. “Yeah, and when has a simple intel mission actually stayed as one?”

Bobbi glares playfully at him. “Touche.”

“Well, that’s what the backup’s for,” Yo-yo murmurs.

“So, Daisy,” Bobbi says. Daisy looks up from her tablet to Bobbi’s grinning face. “Is it true that you’re gonna work with the FBI?” Yo-yo and Mack perk up.

“Wait, what?” Yo-yo says at the same time Mack questions, _“FBI?”_

Daisy groans and massages her forehead. So much for keeping that under wraps. “ _How_ did you even know about that?” 

Bobbi’s enjoying this _way_ too much. “Hunter may or may not have overheard you talking about it in Coulson’s office,” she says cheekily.

“Why’re you working with the FBI?” Yo-yo asks skeptically.

Daisy releases a heavy sigh. She technically doesn’t know if she’s allowed to share the information, but Yo-yo, as an Inhuman agent, has a right to know, and she trusts Mack and Bobbi with her life.

“I don’t want to, trust me,” she admits. “But I’m working out some details. Coulson says the president’s never gonna sign off on us having a department specializing in powered people, and keeping that information private, unless we have another agency keeping tabs.”

Mack hums in agreement. “Well, he’s not wrong.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Daisy mutters. “Anyway, I met with Chief Strauss from the FBI a few days ago. We still have to talk more about it, but she recommended some agents from the Behavioral Analysis Unit, or something.”

“The BAU?” Bobbi says. “I crossed paths with them a few years ago. Doubt they remember me, though.” Daisy has no idea what that means, but Bobbi’s one of the best spies she’s ever met, so she can make an educated guess. “They do some good work. Is she talking about the unit in Quantico?”

“I don’t know. Probably. That’s where Strauss is, anyway.”

“So what are these agents supposed to do?” Mack presses. “Make sure we aren’t creating an army of Inhumans to take over the planet?”

Daisy snorts. “I’m guessing they’ll probably make sure all the powered people we protect aren’t threats to the public. That’s what I got from the behavioral analysis bit, at least. Like Andrew used to do.”

As much as Daisy hates the idea of bringing the FBI into S.H.I.E.L.D. work, she knows that it’s important to assess the behavior of anyone she brings in. She just wishes they could bring in someone else - a trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. source or one of Andrew’s old colleagues from university. Not some outsider that might try to exploit her people even worse.

Yo-yo’s expression hasn’t shifted. “I don’t like this idea. How do we even know they’ll actually help us?”

“I hear you, trust me,” Daisy says. “But I’m not going to let anyone near the Inhuman department if I even have the slightest bad feeling about them.”

“Look, I know you don’t have any reason to trust them, but I meant it when I said they do good work,” Bobbi says. She leans against a control panel and crosses her arms. “They’re all profilers, psychoanalyzing people is their specialty. Any one of those agents could be an asset.”

Daisy still has her doubts, of course. Time and time again she’s tried to protect Inhumans, and too many attempts have ended in failure, and she’s not going to let herself fail again. But she trusts Bobbi and her judgement. And if Bobbi believes there’s a possibility that this could work out in their favor, Daisy has to trust her.

The nerves in her stomach unfurl the tiniest bit. It’s not much, but at least there’s a chance she’s heading in the right direction.

“Alright. I’ll wait to see what happens,” Daisy relents. Bobbi smiles proudly and nudges Daisy’s shoulder.

An alarm pulls all of their attention away from the conversation and towards the cockpit. “What’s that?” Daisy asks.

“It means we’re about to reach our destination,” Mack says. He gives each of them a lingering, serious look. “Alright, everyone to the cockpit, it’s time to discuss tactics.”

* * *

Mack’s previous assessment of _when do intel missions ever stay that way_ wasn’t far off. Their destination turned out to be a small town in northern Lithuania. Some patrolling around the area, specifically the locations the agents were spotted, didn’t reveal much, but all it took was surveying the grounds for unusual activity to spot high energy surges coming from an abandoned warehouse.

Daisy and Bobbi infiltrated the building first. They entered late at night, silently taking out the two guards stationed at the door in no time. They found the security room with ease, and if everything had went according to plan, Daisy was meant to merely download all she could on a hard drive while Bobbi stood watch, wipe their systems, and get the hell out of there.

But of course, it ended up being a trap. As their luck normally goes.

Hydra agents flooded into the room, and although Daisy and Bobbi took out a number of them on their own, Yo-yo and Mack showed up not long after to help with the fight. And even _worse_ , a Hydra agent pulled out a remote and pushed a button, causing a screen to light up with a countdown from fifteen minutes.

“You better find the bomb,” he hissed. “Or people in this city will be blown to bits.”

From there it had all been a blur. They took out the last of the agents, and the ones still conscious but restrained wouldn’t reveal anything about the bomb.

“It’s not in the building, guys,” Daisy said. “I would’ve felt it, but I don’t. It has to be in the town somewhere.”

Mack’s jaw clenched. “Alright. Daisy, you stay here and finish downloading the intel.” At Daisy’s shocked expression, he continued. “The rest of us will find the bomb, but we need you here to finish the mission. I’ll leave an operative behind to keep watch.”

They did end up finding the bomb with only twenty seconds left to spare - not nearly enough time to disable it. Yo-yo dropped it off in a deserted area before it could detonate, so all-in-all, not an awful end to the mission.

“It was a trap,” Daisy says when they’re all gathered on the Zephyr again. “They knew we were coming and ambushed us.” Her side hurts from where an agent managed to land his foot, and she knows she’s gonna have bruises on her arms for the next few weeks, but she’s had worse.

“I know,” Mack agrees. He crosses his arms and runs his thumb over his lips - his tell-tale sign of concentration. “Did you manage to get the information and wipe their systems, though?” She nods.

“I did. But if these guys were prepared for us, why wouldn’t they have wiped their systems earlier?”

“Maybe there’s something in there they want us to see,” Bobbi mumbles. She tucks a blond curl behind her ear, and Daisy can see the beginnings of a bruise grazing her jawline.

“I don’t know,” Mack says. He sighs and nods at a screen, a stream of four different containment modules displayed on it - each containing an agent they managed to secure alive. “But I know at least one of them has to.

I’m gonna get us off the ground. Yo-yo, call the Director and tell him what happened and that we’re on our way back. Bobbi, see if you can get anything from the guys we have locked up. And Daisy, I need you to comb through all the intel you downloaded. Whatever it is these guys are protecting, we need to know.”

* * *

There’s hardly any new information.

Daisy combed through everything she uploaded, but all she can find is details of failed Hydra operations S.H.I.E.L.D. already knew of. Mission plans from years ago, technology that Jemma already provided them since her time undercover. Topics that Hydra _already knows_ that S.H.I.E.L.D. knows.

The only new piece of information she finds is a mission title - with no details to back it up.

_Project Power Grab_

She has no idea what it means. But it certainly doesn’t sound like something good.

Daisy explains her findings to Coulson when they touch back on the base for debrief, propped on the corner of his desk. “It’s just that title - nothing else. I looked in the file and it’s completely wiped clean. That name is literally the only new thing I could find.”

“So they wanted us to find it,” Coulson says. He turns to Bobbi, who’s sitting on one of the chairs across from him. “Any luck with the interrogations?” She shakes her head.

“They’re not nervous at all, I’ll give them that,” Bobbi says. “None of them have said _anything_ since they were apprehended. They’re way too calm about having been captured.”

A frown curves Coulson’s lips. He slants back in his seat and drums his fingers against the handles. “We’ll leave them in the cells for now. They have to get antsy eventually. Besides that, good work.”

“I’ll see if I can find anything on Project Power Grab,” Daisy says, rising from Coulson’s desk. “There has to be _some_ sort of trace or chatter about it on the internet.”

“You can do that later, there’s actually something else I need you to do right now.” She narrows her eyes in question, briefly sharing glances with Bobbi, Mack, and Yo-yo, each looking as confused as she is. “Chief Strauss called while you were away. I need you to call her back and discuss your agreement.”

Daisy groans and flops back down on the desk. “Really? Why can’t you do it?” she whines. Coulson raises an unamused eyebrow.

“Because I’m the Director. And because _you_ are the one that’s supposed to be working on this.”

“Wow, so that’s where we are. Pulling the Director card on me, huh? I thought we were closer than that.”

“Just call Strauss back.”

Bobbi laughs at the pained expression on Daisy’s face. Mack and Yo-yo at least have the decency to act like they don’t find the situation amusing.

“ _Okay_ , okay, DC. You win. I’ll call her.”

The smile Coulson gives her is purely sardonic. “Thank you, Daisy.”

“Don’t give me that look.”

* * *

It ends up taking two separate phone calls and one more in person meeting with Strauss for them to finally agree on the same terms. One, Daisy will accompany the BAU for a few of their cases to see if she approves of their methods (she doesn’t want to work with them at all, but at least now she can see these people in action first hand). Two, she’ll work with them under the guise that she’s from another department that shall remain classified. Three, if she ends up deciding on any of the agents, she has to appropriately compensate them for their time. Four, she has to follow all FBI protocol while she works with them.

It’s that last rule she hates the most. But it’s only for a few missions, so she’ll just have to suck it up.

On top of having to figure all of that out, she’s had zero luck on researching _Project Power Grab._ The agents they have in custody still haven’t said anything of use, and at this point, Coulson and May are considering staging a situation where the agents will unwittingly confess something, similar to what they did with Sunil Bakshi. Daisy wants to help more, but Coulson keeps saying she needs to work on _her_ task and not _theirs_.

Three days before Daisy has to temporarily leave for a S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouse in Quantico, she finds herself in the breakroom reading all she can on the BAU on her tablet. She’s supposed to receive a call from Strauss after Daisy settles in the city, explaining when her first day will be and other rules Daisy’s expected to follow. And before she finds herself in that mess for who knows how long, Daisy wants to at least know _what_ and _who_ she’s getting into.

She’s a hacker at heart, okay? Reading all she can on someone before meeting them is second nature to her by now.

The base is bustling like always - as to be expected from HQ, but Daisy can feel, before she sees or hears, two people heading towards the break room. Looking up from the tablet, she focuses on feeling the heartbeats of the two, as well as the vibrations their weight and foot patterns give off.

Bobbi and May.

The vibrations she constantly felt when she first got her powers used to overwhelm her constantly, to the point she needed to quake something just for the sake of _releasing_ the incessant waves she always felt. But now it was a comfort to her, more than anything. After learning how to control her powers in Afterlife, the ability to tap into frequencies is something Daisy uses to her advantage.

It’s been especially helpful on missions - she knows where potential threats are hiding based on where she feels the most vibrations. She can tell when someone is nervous, or lying, based on their heartbeat. She can tell which way someone went during a chase.

Even with all the training she has, though, too much activity and vibrations around her can overwhelm her system and overstimulate her mind, making it impossible to tell _what_ is coming from _where_. But she has her grounding methods, and normally in a fight she can release all the excess stimulation by quaking it out, anway.

Daisy greets Bobbi and May with a smile as they enter the room. “Here to keep me company?” she asks. May rolls her eyes, but Daisy doesn’t miss the slight tilt of her lips.

“We actually wanted to check up on you before you head to Quantico,” Bobbi says. She sits on the couch next to where Daisy is nestled in the corner, and May settles on the armrest.

Daisy groans. “Don’t remind me.”

“Doing some reading on the BAU now?” Bobbi counters, nodding at Daisy’s tablet. Caught redhanded, Daisy huffs and hands it over for Bobbi to look at.

“Doesn’t sound like you’re excited to work with them,” May says as Bobbi reads everything pulled up on the tablet. Daisy shrugs.

“I mean, I have to give it to them, they’re files are impressive,” she says, motioning to the tablet, “but that’s with how they handle humans. I don’t know how any of them would do around Inhumans and powered people.”

“Inhumans are still humans. Just with powers,” May reasons. “I’m sure the same psychology applies.”

“I guess so,” Daisy sighs. “But I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do with the BAU when I accompany them. I can’t use any S.H.I.E.L.D. technology to take people down, I can’t use my powers, I have to stick with FBI resources to hack if needed.” She sinks lower into the cushions, throws her head back, listening to the resulting _thud_ against the wall. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

She understands the rules Coulson gave her, maybe more than anything he’s told her since she found out she had to work with the FBI. S.H.I.E.L.D. technology is just that - for S.H.I.E.L.D. _only_ , she can’t bring her laptop with her software because of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo that’ll no doubt appear on the screen, and she can’t use her powers unless absolutely necessary since Quake’s identity (hey, the press chose it, not her, okay?) is knowledge only the most trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. agent’s are privy to. But without all that, she doesn’t know what else she has left.

Finished reading, Bobbie hands the tablet to May for her to look over. “Profile,” Bobbi says, as if it’s obvious. “That’s what the BAU is for. And those agents are gonna be assessing you as much as you assess them.”

Daisy glares at the ceiling. “That sounds great and all, really. Except that I don’t know how to profile.”

“And that’s why we’re here,” Bobbi says. “C’mon, sit up.” She whacks Daisy’s arm. The latter fixes a heavy glare at Bobbi’s direction before straightening up. “Profiling was a class we had to take at the Academy, you know. May and I can give you a crash course.” Daisy blinks in surprise.

“Wait, seriously?” she asks. It makes sense, though, with all the interrogation they have to do. “Then how come _I’m_ the one that has to go in?”

They all know the answer to that one: because it’s for the sake of Daisy’s department, and even if she’s not thrilled about working with the FBI, and no matter how much she complains about it, there’s no way in hell she’s letting anyone but herself decide who gets to evaluate potential Inhumans.

“We’ll give you some lessons to prepare,” Bobbi says. May hands the tablet back to Daisy. “Just remember, Daisy, that you’re profiling _human_ criminals. There’s no alien or robot answer or solution.”

After years of having to think outside the box to track her enemies, getting her head back _in_ the box might be difficult. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you both, also, for doing this for me.”

“Just don’t drift off during your lesson,” May chastises. 

“Of course not. From this moment on, I’m your humble pupil.”

* * *

The night after Bobbi and May’s first profiling lesson, Daisy’s sitting cross-legged on her bed while the rest of the base is asleep. She’s skimming through all the information she has on the BAU again, the glow of the tablet screen the only source of light. Despite the late hour, she’s too amped up and invested into researching as much as she can to even think about sleeping.

She mentally runs a breakdown about each agent she’s read on and what they do.

Aaron Hotchner. The Quantico office’s BAU chief. Emotion pulls at Daisy’s heart when she learns about the recent loss of his ex-wife - killed at the hands of a criminal Hotchner was pursuing. Daisy knows about those feelings all too well. She’s surprised to see that he’s still in the BAU after what happened, but figures it has to do with his son - someone he still has to fight for.

Jennifer Jereau. The team’s communications liaison. She has a son as well, born not too long ago. Daisy can’t find anything concerning about her on any file Daisy reads - only that Jereau was offered a position at the Pentagon that she declined.

David Rossi. Supervisory Special Agent. The newest addition to the team, but he’s still been there for a number of years. He worked with the BAU when the unit was first formed, then retired, published a number of books, had enough failed marriages to rival that number, then decided to join the unit again.

Derek Morgan. Supervisory Special Agent. Former Chicago cop until he joined the FBI. His dad died when he was young, he spent time going to youth centers, only to eventually arrest one of the people in charge of one. He acted as the BAU chief for a number of cases until Hotcner resumed the role again.

Spencer Reid. Agent _and_ doctor. Daisy’s eyebrows shoot up at the sheer amount of degrees he has, both bachelor’s and PhD wise. He’s a supposed genius with an IQ in the triple digits. Attended CalTech at the ripe age of twelve. She’s surprised S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t try to recruit him - she can only imagine the conversations he would have with Fitzsimmons. His mother is a resident in a mental facility in Las Vegas, but other than that, there’s no other information on him she deems important.

Penelope Garcia. Technical Analyst. Daisy has no idea who she is and already she loves her. Hacked into the FBI, and somehow got recruited instead, a story that Daisy can relate with. Garcia’s a valued coder on the team and in the Quantico branch as a whole. Daisy suspects that she’s maybe even interacted with Garcia online before, under their hacker monikers. She also suspects that Garcia could do a _lot_ better if she had all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s resources at her fingertips and wasn’t limited by the FBI’s rules.

The most confusing person she finds is Emily Prentiss. Supervisory Special Agent. Mother’s a US ambassador, traveled all around the world while growing up, and worked for Interpol before transferring to the FBI. A much deeper dive into her past shows that Prentiss spent some time undercover to get close with Ian Doyle - the file so encrypted that Daisy doubts Prentiss’s team members even know about this. Even so, Prentiss doesn’t have any sort of history besides her time undercover that concerns Daisy.

She sighs and turns her tablet off, throwing it somewhere on the bedspread. Only two more full days on the base until she has to leave.

She really hates playing by the rules sometimes. But she’s willing to do what it takes to protect her people. She’s already failed so many - Charlie Hinton, Alicia, Andrew, Vijay Nadeer, _Lincoln_ …the list goes on.

She swallows down a heavy lump in her throat. There’s no more room for mistakes, she has to do it right this time.

* * *

It’s near six pm when he gets the knock on his office door.

Aaron Hotchner looks up from the stack of reports and peeks Strauss from the window. He sighs and sets his pen down before calling out, “come in.”

He doesn’t have time for this. He’s nearly done with all the case work for the New Jersey case, and he wants to make it home in time to cook dinner for Jack. He’s tired, a tad agitated, and he really doesn’t want to deal with any probing question Strauss may fire at him about his job performance and the grief of losing Haley. Whatever she wants to talk about, he hopes she makes it fast.

“Agent Hotchner,” Strauss greets as she enters his office. Aaron hates the new look she always fixes him now, a mix of sympathy, pity, and doubt.

He can deal with the sympathy and pity. He’s seen those gazes tossed to him enough from his team and family members alike. But he hates that Strauss always looks for a way to prove he’s unfit for the BAU - his recent loss now a new angle for her to work at.

“Chief Strauss,” he answers. “What can I do for you?”

To his surprise, she lays a file on top of his desk. He gazes at it for only a second before opening it. The first thing he notices is a name printed in bold, accompanied by a photo.

 _Daisy Johnson._ Brown hair with blonde highlights. Asian descent. Young, pretty.

“This is Agent Daisy Johnson,” Strauss says as he looks at the photo. “Sometime in the upcoming week, she’s going to begin accompanying you on a few missions.”

Hotchner furrows his eyebrows and flickers his gaze back up to Strauss. “You’re transferring someone to the unit?”

“No, Agent Johnson’s only here for a short period of time,” Strauss says. “I trust that you’ll inform the rest of your team. I’ll come back here to introduce her to you on her first day.”

“Is there any reason for this agent to assist my team?” The BAU functions well as it is. If Aaron thought they needed a new addition to the team, he would have requested it. The only other reason Strauss would send someone to watch them is a reason that makes his blood boil.

“She’ll be an asset,” is all Strauss says. Completely avoiding the question. “Well, I must be going now. I’ll see you soon, Agent Hotchner.”

Aaron watches as she exits his office and ventures out of the BAU section. He clenches his jaw, staring at the window even long after she’s disappeared from sight, as if she’ll come back and provide him some actual answers.

He sighs. Try all he wants, he doubts there’s a way he can get out of this. Just when he thought Strauss might ease off of him, she’s back with some other underhand way to catch him off guard. And he’s not going to let some random agent sniff whatever it is she’s told to out of him.

He looks back down at the file and continues skimming what’s there, only to find...there’s one single page with information about Agent Johnson.

She has a background in coding, software, field operations, and combat. She permitted and trained in close and long-range shooting.That’s the only information he can gather about her from this page. Nothing about what department she works for now, why she’s accompanying the BAU, or even about what _city_ she currently lives in.

He stares at the single page of information until the words begin to bleed together.

What, exactly, is Strauss trying to do?


	2. Chapter 1: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm blown away at the responses i got last chapter. thank you guys so much!!!
> 
> This takes place during the Criminal Minds episode 5x17: Solitary Man. I already wrote the whole thing, but it ended up being pretty long, so I split it in two parts. the second part should be posted either tomorrow or the day after.  
> (note: not all cases daisy works on with the bau will be as long or as written out as this one, but as this is her first case, i wanted to write it all out more to explore her thought process and her interactions with the team)
> 
> warnings: mentioned sexual assault, death, strangulation, blood, abduction

Morgan’s eyes narrow in confusion. “And Strauss didn’t give a reason for why Johnson’s gonna accompany us?”

“No, just said she’d be an asset to the team,” Aaron mutters, holding out the file. Reid grabs it first, and blinks at the lack of information inside.

“There’s basically nothing in here,” he says. Prentiss perks in interest and peers over Reid’s shoulder from her spot on the jet. “Why would she send someone and not tell us anything about her?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out myself,” Aaron says. Reid slides the file over to Morgan and JJ, sitting across from him. Both of their eyebrows shoot up at the single piece of paper.

“You weren’t kidding when you said there’s nothing in here,” JJ muses. “I mean, maybe Garcia can find something...?”

As if summoned, Garcia pops on the laptop screen. _“I looked into all the resources I can, my loves. The only file I can find on a Daisy Johnson is under a strict encryption that goes beyond my access. Other than that, I can’t find anything. It’s like this woman’s a ghost.”_

A stunned silence settles in the jet.

“Maybe there’s a good reason for that,” Prentiss reasons. “Johnson could be in a Protection Program of some sort.”

“That could be the case,” Rossi says. “From what you’ve said, Hotch, it doesn’t really sound like Strauss knows that much about Johnson either. Maybe this order is from above her.”

“It’s a possibility,” Aaron says. He doubts it, and he doesn’t bother to hide the fact from his expression. “But we can talk about it later. For now, we need to go back to the case.”

JJ dutifully opens her case file and describes the case in more detail, and it isn’t long until her, Prentiss, Reid, and Morgan all begin to bounce theories off each other. Rossi shifts closer to Aaron while everyone else is occupied, and mutters under his breath, “let’s at least give that girl a chance when she gets here, yeah? Maybe she’ll be helpful.”

Aaron fixes him a look. “Or she could be a distraction.”

Rossi gives him a deadpan look before going back to the profile with the others. Whatever Johnson’s background is, Aaron’s not taking a chance with someone he knows _nothing_ about. For the sake of his team, their work, and for whatever angle Strauss is playing at.

* * *

The morning Daisy’s scheduled to meet the BAU team, she arrives early at the Quantico Headquarters, standing outside the front entrance in business professional per Strauss’s instructions.

Daisy’s not quite sure how to feel. She’s resigned to the fact that despite whatever she wants, she’s _here_ and she’s not gonna get out of this all that easily. But she’s still nervous that she has to do this _alone_ , because she highly doubts this team is gonna be all that happy about having some random person thrown into their laps and she does _not_ want to feel like the new kid. And she’s annoyed about having to do this in the first place, and wary, because she read all that she could on the team and how their leader lost his ex-wife a few months ago and he’s already back in the game, and not to mention what all she found on Prentiss, and - 

Okay, so she’s feeling a lot of things, so overwhelming that at this point she’s not even sure what she actually feels.

Maybe if she hates it enough, she can text Jemma to fake an emergency call. She would do that for Daisy, right?

She taps her foot on the concrete and adjusts the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder.

“Agent Johnson.”

Daisy turns towards the voice to see Strauss walking over. “Good morning, Chief Strauss,” Daisy says pleasantly. The FBI agent fumbles for something in her bag and pulls out a badge, printed with the FBI logo and her name underneath it, _Behavioral Analysis Consultant_ printed as her title.

“Here’s this for you, so you don’t have to wait for me every time you come here anymore,” she explains. She rummages through her bag again and hands Daisy a cell phone. “And this is your work phone for while you’re on cases. Every team member’s number is already on here, along with a direct line to my office.” Daisy nods as they both enter the building. She fiddles with the cuffs of her blazer - she hasn’t worn anything but her protective Quake suit and jeans for ages. Getting used to formal wear might take some time. “If I’m not mistaken, the unit is leaving today for a case, so you’ll be going with them. I’ve explained everything to the unit chief, and I’m sure he’s told his team.”

“Is it necessary for me to come in on days they aren’t working a case?” Daisy asks. _Please say no._ The chief presses the _up_ button for the elevator when they reach the end of the hall and they enter the vacant lift.

“No, you don’t have to.” Thank god. “I’m sure your Director already advised you of this, but I want to remind you that as long as you’re here, you’re representing the FBI.” Strauss gives Daisy a warning look “You’re to follow Agent Hotchner’s orders, whether he wants you actively working the field or not. Is that clear?”

 _Is that clear?_ Daisy doesn’t even _work_ for this agency, who the hell does Strauss think she is?

But Daisy takes a deep breath before answering. “Yes, I understand.” Not like Coulson didn’t already drill the importance of hiding her powers and S.H.I.E.L.D. technology while she was here. (But no one needs to know she snuck her laptop into the go bag she was instructed to bring. She literally never goes anywhere without it, okay?)

Strauss nods, seemingly appeased. She leads Daisy out of the elevator when it opens and into a section behind double glass doors. “And here we are,” Strauss says, motioning Daisy to step in first.

She swallows down her nerves as she enters the room, immediately feeling several pairs of eyes land on her from the group of desks in the center. She spares at glance at the source, and mentally marks off the group of three that watch her inquisitively.

 _Spencer Reid. Emily Prentiss. Derek Morgan._ Three of the people she’s going to be working with.

Strauss doesn’t head in their direction, though, so Daisy just smiles politely before averting her gaze. Bobbi and May’s lessons ring in her mind, and the last thing she wants to do is to give off an impression that she’s nervous. As she continues following Strauss, however, she focuses on the vibrations their heartbeats give off.

Steady. No anger or surprise, then. They know why she’s here.

Strauss and Daisy head over to a closed door, and it doesn’t take a trained FBI profiler to guess whose office it is.

“Come in.”

Aaron Hotchner sits at his desk, shutting a case file he must have just been working on as the two women enter his office. Daisy can tell from one glance that he’s the stern, serious, always-wearing-a-suit type of FBI agent.

The look Hotchner wears is all too similar to May’s expression when encountering someone new for the first time - carefully blank, eyes assessing every square inch of Daisy like he can tell what her favorite food is just by staring into her soul. She supposes he might be using it as an intimidation tactic to make her nervous, but Daisy’s known Melinda May for _years._ This guy has nothing on her.

Underneath his hard gaze hides something else, too. Haunted, grief-stricken. Someone who’s lost and seen too much. Maybe no one else can find those emotions buried behind his eyes, but she’s seen that same gaze reflect back at her through the mirror.

He recently buried his ex-wife. Found the body himself and killed the man responsible. And he’s _here_.

Something in Daisy unflurls. Son or no son, she doesn’t understand how he can throw himself back into the job that took his ex-wife away. She knows that _she_ had to get away from the job that killed Lincoln, even if deep down she knew she’d always come right back to S.H.I.E.L.D..

“Agent Hotchner,” Strauss says, snapping Daisy out of her thoughts, and she doesn’t even remember walking right inside the office and towards the front of his desk, but here she is. “This is Agent Daisy Johnson, whom I told you will be joining the team for your next few cases.”

He rises from his seat and reaches a hand out to Daisy, which she accepts with a polite smile. He nods in a curt greeting, ever the serious, no-funny-business agent she pictured all S.H.I.E.L.D. spies looked like when she still worked with the Rising Tide.

“It’s nice to meet you, Johnson,” Hotchner greets, voice deep. Not at all sounding that excited about meeting her. At least the feeling was mutual.

“You too, Agent Hotchner,” Daisy responds, “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

Satisfied, Strauss turns back to Daisy. “Well, I’ll let you get settled in. Remember to call me should you need anything.” At her nod, the chief looks back over at Hotchner. “And I need _you_ to remember that Agent Johnson and her superiors will handle her own paperwork.”

Daisy groans internally. She already knew about the paperwork, but that doesn’t change the fact that she _hates_ completing it. And she doubts she can persuade Coulson to do it for her.

Strauss makes her exit soon after that, leaving Daisy alone with Hotchner in his office. The weight that she’s stuck with these people all alone for the next however many days, not allowed to use her powers or break FBI protocol, sinks into her chest. She really, _really_ hates politics.

“Please, take a seat, Agent Johnson,” Hotchner says, still standing. She nods and does as told, and only then does he follow suit. “I trust I’m the first person of the team you’ve met?”

“I believe I saw a few agents outside your office, but no, I haven’t officially met anyone,” Daisy confirms. She focuses again on feeling a heartbeat, this time for the man across her. Steady, unchanging.

“I’ll take you to meet them when we’re finished in here. Then we’ll all meet in the conference room to discuss our next case,” he explains. His expression hasn’t shifted once since the moment she arrived.

She nods. “Understood. I brought a bag along with me in case we’re leaving the area.”

“We are.” He doesn’t elaborate any further. “I have to say, I find it odd as to why Chief Strauss ordered you to work with my team for an indefinite time period without giving us any information on your background.”

Ah, there it was. She knew it was only a matter of time.

She smiles politely, trying to mirror the expression Coulson always makes when he’s in situations like this. “I know, I’m sorry about all the confusion. But I promise you that I am completely capable of doing whatever you need me to do on the field.”

They both know that she didn’t answer what he wanted her to. He minutely raises an eyebrow, staring at her for a second longer, before he must decide that there’s no way he’s getting a straight answer out of her. “I just want to know, Agent Johnson, if there’s some specific reason Chief Strauss sent you here. This job requires total concentration, and if there’s a _reason_ for you being here, I need to know. My team is capable enough as is, we don’t need someone watching for that.”

Daisy doesn’t bother to hide her confusion. Granted, she doesn’t know what all Strauss told him, and she knew the BAU wouldn’t exactly be _thrilled_ about her here, but she didn’t expect for him to think she has some ulterior motive. From what she knows, the unit works fine as is, they don’t need some babysitter to - 

Oh. _Oh_.

It hits Daisy then, Agent Hotchner’s choice words of _“we don’t need someone watching for that”_ reverberating in her mind. Strauss’s carefully sympathetic gaze when she first walked in the office. Hotchner’s shoulders squared in defense.

Daisy sighs and leans forwards. “I don’t know what all Chief Strauss told you, sir, but she’s not the one who assigned me here.” His gaze narrows in disbelief, but he doesn’t stop her from continuing. “I have an important assignment, unrelated to this team, but my superior believes I can benefit from working a few cases with you. He wouldn’t have sent me here if he didn’t think your team was capable.”

He doesn’t move at all, eyes clearly narrowed at her. She stares right back, letting him read whatever she wants off of her expression. Because technically, she isn’t lying. And if he won’t at least trust her, she’s going to get _nowhere_ with this stupid assignment.

Finally, he slightly lowers his shoulders and sighs out his nose. “Alright. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the bullpen to meet the team.”

No apology then, huh? Just straight to it. Fine, she can live with that.

He leads her to the group of agents she passed by when she first arrived, all doing a horrible job of acting like they weren’t waiting for Hotchner’s office door to open. “I want to introduce you all to Agent Johnson. As you know, she’ll be joining us for our next few cases. Johnson, this is Agent Emily Prentiss, Agent Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid.”

Morgan is the first one to stand and shake Daisy’s hand, grinning more than smiling, eyes boring into her with the same calculation Hotcnher’s had - if only a little less haunted. “Well it’s certainly nice to meet you, Agent Johnson,” he says with a flirting lilt. She raises a tentative brow but smiles nonetheless.

“And you as well, Agent Morgan,” she says. Prentiss follows next, expression more sincere than Daisy expected, and Reid hastily stands to shake her hand as well. She’s immediately thrown back to when she met her S.H.I.E.L.D. team for the first time, and how awkwardly, adorably _nerdy_ Fitzsimmons were.

“We have a new case. I need everyone in the conference room,” Hotchner says before any of the agents can ask any questions. He turns to Daisy, and before leaving towards what she assumes is the conference room, says, “you can meet the remaining agents there while we brief.”

Two agents are already waiting for the rest of them in the room when Daisy follows Hotchner. _Jennifer Jereau. David Rossi._ That leave Penelope Garcia as the only one Daisy hasn’t seen.

“Johnson, this is our communications liaison Agent Jennifer Jereau, and this is Agent David Rossi,” Hotchner says as they all file in.

Rossi doesn’t make any move to rise from his seat, merely nodding at her. Jereau pauses what she’s doing - placing case files around the table - and greets Daisy with a warm smile and polite handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Agent Johnson. And please, call me JJ.”

Maybe one person will be on her side after all. “It’s nice to meet you, JJ.”

“Alright, it’s time to get started,” Hotchner says. Straight to business, then. Not even five minutes to have a casual conversation with someone.

Everyone gathers around the table, taking a seat and immediately opening their respective files, and Daisy ends up sitting between Hotchner and Morgan. 

Her brows shoot up as soon as she opens the file laid out in front of her. She first notices pictures of five different women - all dead, found strangled off the side of the road in New Mexico, but all originally abducted from different states. They’re all young, around the same age range, and overall had stable normal lives until their disappearances.

The first thoughts that come to Daisy’s mind are: _teleportation device_ and _Hydra experimentations gone wrong_ and she has to put a full stop on her brain before she can venture any further.

Those are _S.H.I.E.L.D._ missions and leads she would follow. But now she’s here to catch humans - normal human beings that although are definitely fucked in the head, are not capable of trapping her in a virtual reality prison or turning into some sort of alien hellbeast. She has to get into the head of normal human beings and not humanistic robots or leaders of a Nazi organization.

(Okay. She realizes how weird that sounds in her head.)

As she starts digging more into the file, JJ presses the remote to display the most recent victim on the TV screen. “Her name was Tanya Hill. She was twenty-nine, a bartender. Found two days ago in Edgewood, New Mexico. She’s the fifth victim in over six months to be found dead in a ditch off the I-40 and I-25.”

“All were manually strangled,” Hotchner muses. “None were sexually assaulted.”

“Well, maybe the act of strangulation is what gets him off,” Morgan says. Daisy grimaces at the thought but doesn’t look up from her file.

“Where were they abducted from?” Prentiss asks.

“All over,” JJ says.

Distantly, Daisy hears Morgan speak again, something about crossing state lines, but the words don’t register. She looks deeper into the file, skimming through all the pages about the victims and their respective demise.

_Victims from in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Texas...all women, no sexual assault...victims have no connections to each other...all white women…_

Daisy zones back in when Reid rises from his seat and walks over to the monitor. “...because he has a comfort zone,” she catches him saying. “Based on the direction he was heading when he dumped the bodies, all five cases point to our UnSub heading to Edgewood, New Mexico.”

 _UnSub. Unidentified Subject._ May had drilled the importance of that word during their limited profiling lessons.

“Now so are we,” Hotchner says as he stands. Everyone else follows, gathering their files and the rest of their belongings off the table. Daisy scatters to follow suit. “Meet at the jet in twenty.” He leaves, not meeting Daisy’s confused gaze.

She digs her nails into the palm of her hands and takes a steady breath to quell her frustration. She reminds herself that she only just started - that she’ll get the hang of this after a case or two. But already not even a full hour has passed and her temporary boss doesn’t seem to like her. And she’s going to be stuck with these people for the next however many days, with no way out. _Great._

* * *

Daisy doesn’t think of herself as someone with high living standards. She grew up in the foster system, bounced around all types of houses, and even lived in a van, for god’s sake. Honestly, as long as she had her computer and wifi, she didn’t care about much else.

But the jet is very... _different_ than what she’s used to. She’s used to the Zephyr, and once upon a time the Bus, and even the Quinjets with their autopilot if you know how to push the right buttons. And have weapons, and cloaking, and enough room for a car if needed. And compared to all of that, they’re jet is...anyway…

“Impressive, right?” Morgan says behind Daisy. He’s wearing a cheeky smile, different than the one he sported during his initial assessment of her. “This bad boy is one of my favorite parts of the job.”

Oh. Right. He’s referring to the jet.

“Yeah, definitely,” she says, giving the seating area a quick sweep, as if she’s awed. “I’ve just - never really been in a jet like this.”

“Have you flown often?” he asks.

She spent almost a full year living in a flying command unit. “Somewhat.”

He grins at her, all flirty charm that she’s sure he uses to disarm whoever’s on the receiving end. “C’mon, come sit with me.” He settles on a seat by the window, patting the vacant spot next to him.

Her lips tilt to the side and she chuckles under her breath. She’s well aware that he’s only suggesting it so he can interrogate and profile her for however long the flight is to New Mexico, but she honestly prefers that to sitting by herself in the corner with absolutely nothing to do.

The rest of the team file in closely after him. Prentiss and JJ both slot themselves in the spots facing Daisy and Morgan, respectively, leaving Hotcner, Reid, and Rossi taking whatever seats they can nearby.

“So. Johnson,” Morgan starts. Daisy braces herself for the inevitable onslaught of questions. “I don’t think I caught what department you transferred from.”

“She’s only here to assist us with a few cases,” Hotch clarifies, staring down at his file. “Johnson isn’t transferring to our unit.”

Okay. True, but ouch.

Daisy doesn’t miss the warning glance JJ and Rossi give him, though. So this likely isn’t normal behavior for him. But still, come on. Daisy hasn’t even _done_ anything to warrant getting on the boss’s bad side.

“Agent Hotchner’s right,” Daisy says. Everyone besides Hotchner himself turns their eyes back at her, but she knows he’s listening all the same. “I’m not actually transferring here. My boss has me working an assignment and he believes that working with your unit for a short time will help.”

JJ’s eyebrows shoot up and she leans closer to Daisy, elbows propped on the table. “Dang.”

“Sounds like you’re some sort of hot shot,” Rossi comments, his smile teasing. Daisy breathes a laugh.

“Very flattering, but I’m really not.”

“How many cases do you think you’ll work on with us?” Reid asks. Daisy shrugs.

“Not too many. Three, maybe four.” If it’s anymore than that, she’s quitting and telling Coulson to shove it. “And I may not be an expert profiler, per say, but I promise I can handle myself out there.”

She almost rolls her eyes at Morgan’s skeptical glance. Whatever. Daisy knows she doesn’t look very intimidating (at least not since she stopped wearing copious amounts of eyeliner to avoid getting detected by security cameras), but she doesn’t say anything. She’s learned to use others underestimating her to her advantage. 

“We need to get back to discussing the case,” Hotchner says, and from there his team switches to business mode. Serious, analytical, and any trace of amusement gone as they read through the case again. A notion Daisy’s familiar with when it comes to working on missions. She doesn’t hesitate to pull out her own file and begin fingering through its contents once more.

“Clearly this UnSub doesn’t care about his victims being found,” Morgan pipes up minutes later.

Hotchner looks up and replies, “or he knows he can’t be linked to them.”

“The M.E. report supports that,” Prentiss confirms. “Matching DNA was found on all five victims.”

“But not in any database?”

“Right.”

“It’s also in keeping with the victimology and abduction sites,” Reid says.

Prentiss raises an eyebrow. “Which are what?”

“Target rich and offender friendly.”

“And what do you think, Johnson?”

Daisy snaps up from her reading, all eyes on the plane landing on Hotchner. He’s staring straight at her, expression carefully neutral, and Daisy feels like she’s about to be put under some kind of test. “What do you think of our UnSub?” he asks.

Everything she read in the file scrambles around in her mind, a rapid onslaught on information, and Daisy has to stare back down at the pictures scattered in front of her to organize her thoughts. “Uh, well,” she starts, and she winces at how unsure she sounds. She clears her throat before trying again, this time more confident, “it’s strange how long the abduction period lasts for each victim. Some last twenty-four hours while some only make it to twelve, so he has to want something out of them.”

“There’s no sign of sexual assault,” Morgan counters. “Or no signs of torture or restraints.”

“Well maybe he wants something else out of them,” Daisy says. “And for some of these women he realizes they don’t have what he wants out of him earlier on - “

“ - so he kills them earlier,” Prentiss finishes. She flashes Daisy an encouraging smile. “Honestly, that could be the case. The only other information we have so far is that skin and metal shavings were found under the fingernails of all five victims. Tanya only had one nail left.”

JJ scrunches her nose at the picture Prentiss hands over. “One nail?” JJ mutters under her breath.

“So she tried to claw her way out of wherever she was,” Daisy states.

“JJ,” Hotchner starts, his expression still no different than it was earlier, “have Garcia match victimology and abduction sites to HSK findings for the last year.”

“If he sticks to his timeline,” Prentiss says, “Edgewood is about to discover another body.”

“What kind of job does this guy do for a living?” Morgan wonders aloud. “If he can travel to five states and hold these women captive for long enough to dump them at a different location, he has to constantly be on the road.”

“Maybe he’s a truck driver,” Daisy suggests. They all turn to look at her. “I mean, if all the victims were found off the highways, it would only make sense. And he could hide his victims in the truck.”

JJ gives Daisy a warm look and Rossi nods in agreement, lips tilted to the side. Maybe she won’t be so bad at this profiling thing after all.

* * *

They all split soon after they land - Hotch ordering everyone where to go.

“JJ, Johnson, and I will go to the station to set up and talk to the officers.” (She half-expects him to tell her to sit at the police station and sit on her hands while they handle the case.) “Reid, Rossi, I want you both to go to Tanya Hill’s dumpsite. Prentiss, Morgan, I want you to go to the bar Hill worked at the night she disappeared. Everyone meet back at the station when you’re done.”

As they unload the jet and separate into their designated assignments, JJ finds Daisy and begins explaining their next steps.

“I always go to the police station first as the communications liaison,” she says. Hotchner pulls up in an SUV, and the two begin to stride towards it together. “Chances are you and Hotch will start setting up the work area and the geographical profile while asking the officers some questions.”

“Got it,” Daisy says before they file into the vehicle, JJ up front and Daisy in the back.

True to her word, JJ greets the officer in charge when they arrive at Edgewood’s police station. Officer Harlow, the town’s sheriff, leads them to a back area, all the while protesting the FBI’s presence in his town. He obviously doesn’t believe a serial killer lives in Edgewood, but he still lets them set up and discuss the case more in detail alone.

They spread out all the documents they have about the case. Daisy helps JJ pin the pictures of the victims on the precinct’s board, and Daisy can't help but stare at each new picture she pins up.

All the women tossed out, but all in the same position, she realizes - with how their hands are positioned and everything. All abducted in populated locations instead of isolated areas. She ponders if it’s Hydra experimenting on people yet again, but she forces herself to rule out the idea. No Hydra here. No robots or Inhumans. Just regular human people. Regular human people that kidnap women and kill them, but humans no less.

“What’re you thinking?” JJ’s voice takes Daisy out from her thoughts. JJ’s looking at her with concern, and Daisy notices Hotchner angle himself to look over from the corner of her eye.

“Isn’t it weird how the victims were all dumped?” she asks. At JJ’s confused look, Daisy continues. “I mean, look at the pictures. They’re all in literally the exact same position. It almost looks like they’re sleeping, even. This guy didn’t just throw them out.”

Hotchner rises from his chair and stands next to Daisy to stare at the board. “A sign of remorse, maybe,” he muses. “What else can you see?”

Daisy glances up at him in question but he doesn’t tear his eyes away from the picture. She has no clue what else she thinks, but she continues talking anyway. “All the victims look like they were normal, maybe middle-class women. It’s like...I don’t know. Like there’s something he’s trying to find from these women.”

He nods, still not looking her way. “He could have a fantasy he wants played out, and he’s looking for the perfect woman to fill that role. When he realizes they can’t keep up with his desires, he instead searches for release in their strangulation.”

Her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. Okay, not what Daisy was thinking, but alright.

“You guys must deal with a lot of gross dudes,” she mutters. Hotchner finally looks away from the board to look down at her, eyes narrowed.

“Excuse me?” he says, and he doesn’t sound _mean_ , but he sure doesn’t sound friendly, either.

“It’s just - you said he wants this woman to fulfill his desired fantasy for release but _nothing_ about this screams ‘sexual’ to me,” she explains. Hotcnher’s gaze only hardens with each passing second but Daisy can’t stop. “Other than the fact that this is likely a man and he’s obviously targeting women. There has to be some other component this guy is looking for, I can feel it.” 

She _knows_ that’s the case. She’s not a fucking serial killer, for Christ’s sake, but she knows the feeling of always looking for something that isn’t there, then ditching a previous method and moving to the next. It’s that same feeling that pulled at her stomach when she was little, staring longingly at a passing family, wishing she had one. It’s that feeling that first drove her to become a hacker in the first place. This guy’s methods are obviously...very different, but she can see the attempt all the same. “What if he wants these women to be, like, his life partner or something?”

Hotchner clenches his jaw and breathes slightly out of his nose. “You have no idea what kind of criminals and killers there are out there, Johnson, and what these men are capable of.” She bristles at the words. “Until we have information that can prove otherwise, we have to assume our UnSub fits our current profile of a sexual sadist. We can’t change that because of a _feeling_. Is that clear?”

Daisy has to clamp down on her tongue to keep from lashing right back out at him.

She gets it, she's new and they don’t know anything about her and they’re experts when she’s decidedly not. She can deal with him correcting her or saying she’s wrong, even if it might bruise her ego. What she _can’t_ deal with are his condescending words.

 _You have no idea what kind of criminals and killers there are out there_.

Daisy knows. She fucking _knows_ what’s out there, maybe even more than Hotchner does, and he doesn’t have the right to talk down to her life that. The nerve of him to treat her like some spoiled, sheltered _child_ \- 

She wants nothing more than to call him a piece of shit and a jerk and say something about pulling his head out of his ass, but she swallows down every reflexive retort and just says, “copy that, sir.” If there’s bite in her voice, he’s just gonna have to suck it up.

She sits back down at the table next to JJ and opens her file to read what she can. JJ’s eyes seek her out, but Daisy refuses to look up at the pitying glance. She’s not some child seeking approval and weeping over her temporary boss being a dick, and she doesn’t need someone trying to mother her.

Hotchner sits back down across from her and reviews his own file. Daisy just wants to finish this stupid case and complain to Jemma about it.

* * *

They don’t speak up again until Sheriff Harlow comes back with a stack of papers. Daisy almost hopes it contains some excuse for them to go investigate something - she’s been sitting here for too long, and she’s starting to get antsy.

“Here’s the M.E.’s file of another victim,” Officer Harlow says. JJ grabs the papers and begins to skim through them.

“We know that all these women were strangled by the same UnSub,” Hotchner says, the first time he’s spoken since he snapped at Daisy. She seals her lips tightly to keep from saying something like, _wow, no shit._

JJ holds up the M.E.’s report. “There’s evidence found by DNA and metal fragments under their fingernails, but there’s something else.”

Daisy blinks. “What is it?”

“Tanya had diesel fuel on her clothing.”

They all exchange glances. Hotcnher looks over at Daisy for a brief second, and she thinks of the suggestion she made on the jet.

“Well she was found off the freeway,” Harlow says. “I’m sure they all had.”

“They all did,” JJ confirms, “and sugar.” Daisy raises an eyebrow. “Table sugar was found on almost all the victims’ clothing.”

“Sugar?” the officer mutters in thought. “It absorbs diesel fuel. It’s a trucker trick.”

And Daisy knows now is _not_ the time, but she fights the beginnings of a smug smile forming on her lips. JJ and Hotchner both turn to look at Daisy.

“It’s almost like I knew how he’s transporting them,” she mumbles under her breath. Fuck it, she _earned_ this moment of bragging rights.

Blessedly, Hotchner doesn’t say anything at her comment. JJ props a fist in front of her hand to hide her smile.

* * *

It’s a few hours later when the rest of the team arrives at the station. Reid and Rossi get there first, and all filling each other in on what they’ve found. Reid also mentions the oddity of the victim’s body placements, and Daisy _again_ has to keep from saying something smug.

Prentiss and Morgan aren’t far behind. According to Tanya Hill’s coworkers, she was a good employee and an overall good person. She had a number of regulars, all of whom she always ensured never drove home drunk, and no one reported seeing anything unusual going on at the bar the night she disappeared.

Some time during their theorizing, Daisy’s personal phone vibrates in her jacket - though thankfully, nobody notices. Shifting close under the table, she pulls out her phone to see who messaged her.

 **_DC:_ ** _call when you’re alone_

She raises an eyebrow at the cryptic text but quickly puts her phone back in her pocket before the team can catch her. No need for Hotchner to make some comment about her _being on her phone_ during an investigation or something.

“That means so far all we’ve gotten is that our UnSub is a trucker,” Rossi muses. “Probably in his thirties or forties, and he has to watch his victims for a little bit before he abducts them.”

Hotchner sighs and closes his file. “It’s getting late. We should head over to the hotel and try to catch some rest - we’ll meet in the lobby at exactly eight in the morning unless we get called in.”

* * *

“-son! Johnson! Daisy!”

Daisy pauses in the middle of the hotel hallway and turns towards the sound of the voice. JJ’s a few steps behind, jogging towards Daisy alone.

“Oh, uh - hey, JJ,” Daisy says when JJ finally catches up. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” JJ says as they both start walking again. “I’m sorry, it’s just - I wanted to ask how you’re doing with everything. I know our work is kind of hectic and, quite frankly, depressing.”

Daisy smiles. JJ’s obviously the mother hen of the team - maybe the least jaded, too. “I’m good. Thank you for asking though, and for filling me in on everything that’s happening.”

JJ smiles back. “That’s good to hear. And yeah, it’s no problem.” She clears her throat before continuing, “and, uh, I also wanted to apologize for Hotch.” Daisy stops, nearing her hotel room, and JJ follows suit. “It’s not unusual for the team to bounce ideas off each other like that, and I’m not sure why he shot you down when you tried.”

Daisy’s well aware why he shot her down. Daisy’s also aware that _JJ’s_ well aware too.

A heavy sigh leaves her nose. “It’s okay,” Daisy says. “I mean, I guess I get it. I’m the new kid right now and you’re all obviously close to each other.” JJ winces to herself. “It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s good that you’re close, and I’m not trying to threaten that in any way. I won’t lie and say he wasn’t being a dick about it, but I get it.”

JJ blinks at Daisy’s choice words and breathes a startled laugh. “Make sure he _never_ hears you calling him that,” she laughs, only kind of sounding like she’s joking.

Daisy snorts to herself. “Don’t worry about me, JJ. I know we just met, and you don’t know much about me, but this is far from the worst thing I’ve had to deal with.”

JJ’s expression changes from confused to concerned to curious in a matter of seconds, but she must decide not to ask Daisy to elaborate. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it.”

Daisy feels the beginnings of an awkward silence start to settle, and squashes it before it has a chance to fester. She’s always had a bad habit of babbling nonsense during terse silences. “Well, uh, this is my room,” she says, gesturing behind her, “and I’m exhausted. I’m probably gonna turn in for the night.”

JJ nods before pointing at the next door down to their right. “I’m here right if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Johnson.”

“You too.” Daisy scans her hotel key and enters her room, vaguely hearing JJ do the same next to her. She pauses and presses her ear to the door as soon as it’s shut behind her. No sound - no one walking by, talking, or standing in front of her door. Pressing the palm of her hand to the wall, she focuses on the vibrations buzzing in her veins.

No one’s around, snooping on her. She can feel heartbeats fairly close by, faint with distance, and she assumes it’s JJ in the room next to her. Nothing around to cause suspicion.

Daisy sighs, shoulders sagging with relief as she strides into the room and throws her bag on the pristine, white bed sheets.

Yes she’s aware she’s overly paranoid. And _yes_ , she thinks she has probable cause to be.

The soft sheets greet her as she flops on the bed, a groan leaving her lips. The day wasn’t strenuous by any means - she’s had days where she had to fight trained killers back-to-back, after all - but it’s definitely been _draining_. She’s not used to double checking her thoughts or ideas before she blurts them when it comes to missions. She can say things like _Inhuman_ or _robot_ and no one in S.H.I.E.L.D. blinks. But these people would probably just call her nuts or ‘profile’ that she’s having a psychotic break.

And not to mention the _lack of resources._ Daisy’s found more with less than what the BAU has on this case and been able to run miles with it. If she had her laptop and the Zephyr, she would have solved this stupid case in an hour. But _no_ . Coulson insisted no S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, software, _anything_.

Whatever. She can deal with all that, but paired with the unit chief probably hating her, JJ trying to mediate, and the rest of the team not really sure how to feel, Daisy just wants a fucking minute to herself.

“Stupid fucking government,” she mutters as she pulls out her phone and dials her most recent contact.

Coulson picks up after the second ring. _“Glad you finally called,”_ he greets. She can faintly hear scuffles in the background. _“How’s it going on your end?”_

She smiles sardonically at the ceiling. “Oh you know, it’s so great,” she drawls. “I honestly might drop S.H.I.E.L.D. for this. I’m already making friendship bracelets for my new besties.”

 _“Wow,”_ he says. _“That bad?”_

Her low grunt is all the confirmation he needs. “I can fill you in on that later. I’m assuming you called for a reason?”

There’s a pause on the other end of the phone. _“Yes. There’s been a situation.”_ Her heart stops.

She sits up from the bed. “Situation? What situation?”

_“We believe there’s been another Inhuman discovered.”_

Her brows scrunch together. “And what happened? Were you able to find them?”

Coulson sighs, and Daisy’s stomach drops. _“We have proof that terrigenesis happened. Bobbi was chasing a lead on Project Power Grab - which we can tell you about more when you’re back from your current case - and found remains of terrigen crystals and an Inhuman husk.”_ Her breath hitches. _“But no one was there. We haven’t been able to trace down who it happened to, or where they went.”_

She takes a few seconds for all the information to seep in, and when it finally does, she isn’t sure where to start. “Do you think they’re maybe wandering the streets, somewhere?”

_“Unlikely. Bobbi couldn’t find any trails.”_

“Do you know how this person got a hold of terrigen crystals? I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. has what’s left of them.”

_“We’re not sure yet. Simmons is examining the remains left behind as we speak, so I’ll let you know what she says the next time we talk. But we do have a possible idea, relating to Project Power Grab.”_

Daisy groans and balls the sheets with her fist. She’s _needed_ over there, and instead, she’s in New Mexico with a group that probably wants nothing to do with her and she’s essentially providing _nothing_. “You’re not gonna tell me the lead until I’m done with this case, aren’t you?”

 _“Yep,”_ Coulson confirms.

“Then why call me?” She’s glad he did, no matter how much she just wants to drop everything and run back to the Playground. But he wouldn’t call if he had no valuable information, especially when she’s technically on assignment.

 _“Well, for one, you would have yelled at me about waiting to tell you.”_ True. _“And second, we might not have much, but we have the location, and whoever went through the mist has to have either caused a scene or been reported missing.”_

“So you want me to track them down?” she asks. At his affirmative answer, she continues. “Don’t I need S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to do that?”

Coulson huffs. _“We both know you snuck your laptop with you.”_

Daisy stares at her discarded bag and shakes her head to herself. “You know me too well, Phil.”

_“Uh huh. I’ll send you the coordinates and anything else Simmons discovers from the remains. If anyone can find something, it’s you.”_

It’s pathetic, really, how that _little affirmation_ has something warm growing in her chest. “Gotcha. Do I call if I find anything?”

_“Preferably message it - we’re already risking enough talking as it is. Only call if it’s a dire situation.”_

“Understood.”

 _“And Daisy? Don’t you dare use that laptop anywhere outside your hotel room. And_ only _for_ this _task.”_

“Okay, okay, I get it,” she huffs. She reaches into her duffel bag with her free hand and pulls out her laptop. “I’ll let you know if I have anything.”

_“Alright. Stay safe out there.”_

“You too.” She hangs up and throws the phone on the nightstand. She’s almost relieved to be doing S.H.I.E.L.D. work instead of anything FBI related. Finally something she’s good at and _respected_ for.

The bizarre situation, though, still flutters in the back of her mind. She has no doubt that she’ll discuss it with Coulson more when she can, but all the variables at play weigh on her shoulders.

She has _no idea_ how there are more terrigen crystals out there. It’s possible someone could have engineered them - Inhumans did, after all. But she has no clue _who_ or for _what_ reason, or even _where_ they could get the resources. And with a newly transformed Inhuman on the loose...she knows it can’t lead to anything good unless S.H.I.E.L.D. gets there first.

The second Coulson sends her the coordinates, she launches her software and gets to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part 2 should be up within the next few days!


	3. Chapter 1: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: mentioned sexual assault, abduction, death, blood, violence, guns, implied suicide

A shrill ring tears Daisy’s focus away from her laptop.

She reaches for her phone and frowns in confusion at the blank screen that greets her. She stares at it for a second longer until it hits her - it’s her FBI phone, currently sitting in the jacket she shrugged to the floor sometime during her research.

“Shit,” she mumbles, a mix of confusion and frustration, as she lunges off to bed and rummages through her jacket pockets. A sigh leaves her lips at the contact name, and she spares another moment to gather all the willpower she can muster before answering. “Agent Hotcnher?”

 _“Johnson. Another abduction has been reported,”_ She blinks at the news. That soon already? It can’t have been too long since she came back.

She glances at the analog clock on the nightstand and finds it’s already well past two in the morning. They got to the hotel around ten. And sometime in that time span, it started raining. _Oh._

 _“Can you be at the lobby in fifteen minutes?”_ Hotchner continues.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’ll be there,” she says before hanging up. Well, there goes any hope of sleeping. She’s far from tired, but she knows she’ll most likely regret it the next day.

For _hours_ she searched everything she could. No news reports have popped up about suspicious activity around the location Coulson sent - an abandoned apartment complex in a neighborhood just outside of Atlanta - and no satellite images revealed anything out of the ordinary taking place - at least out in public. She searched missing persons reports and there’s _too fucking many_ to count. Really, the only thing she has right now is security footage of a black vehicle going _in_ and _out_ of the neighborhood hours before Bobbi arrived, but there’s nothing discernible she can make out.

If anything, seeing the vehicle just makes her feel worse. It’s practically confirmation that something _horrible_ happened, and Hydra, or even the Watchdogs, could all be behind it, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has _no fucking leads_.

She threads her fingers through her hair and pulls at the edges. It’s okay. It’s fine. The sooner she helps the BAU solve this case, the sooner she can go back to researching. She wants nothing more than to glue herself to her laptop and not stop until she at least has the identity of the Inhuman, but that’ll have to wait.

She heaves out a deep breath and lets her hands drop. Might as well get this over with. 

Surprisingly enough, she’s actually one of the first to arrive at the lobby, though that might have to do with the fact that she wasn’t asleep to begin with. Reid and Hotchner are the only ones waiting, the former hiding yawns behind his hand and the latter - well, actually, he doesn’t look any different than normal. Reid smiles at her as she nears, giving her an awkward little wave from where he leans against the back of a sofa.

“Hey,” he says. “How’d you sleep?”

“I didn’t sleep, actually,” Daisy confessed. “How about you?”

“You didn’t sleep?” Hotchner asks before Reid can answer. She snaps her gaze at him, watching the way he analyzes her up and down, almost accusatory.

Seriously. If this guy gives her shit for something that’s not even any of his business, she’s quaking him out onto the street, S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol be damned.

She shrugs. “I’ve always been a night owl.” It’s a simple truth. Even if Coulson hadn’t called her, Daisy would have found something else to keep her entertained for the next few hours.

Lucky for her, though, Hotchner doesn’t get a chance to interrogate her anymore. Footsteps draw their attention to the straggling group walking into the lobby - the remainder of the team, each looking as exhausted as the other.

Morgan raises an eyebrow when he sees Daisy. “How do you look so awake right now?”

“Didn’t sleep.” At least the look _he_ gives her is of pure concern and not suspicion. What, does Hotchner think that _she_ kidnapped the last person, found a secure hiding location, and somehow got back to the hotel in a four hour time span?

(She could pull it off, but they have no way of knowing that.)

“What do we know?” Rossi asks.

“Stephanie Campbell - ” Daisy’s heart stops. “ - a teenage girl, just called and reported that a trucker abducted her mother, Nancy Campbell, at a rest stop near Edgewood,” Hotchner explains. She sucks in a deep breath, ignoring the emotion festering in the pit of her stomach.

 _They’re not related,_ she has to repeat to herself. She knows all of his family members, even keeps in somewhat regular contact with his sister. This has nothing to do with Inhumans. This has nothing to do with Lincoln.

She swallows down a lump in her throat and catches the conversation transpiring around her.

“...whole different type of victim,” she hears Morgan say.

“And in Edgewood, too,” Prentiss agrees, “he’s never abducted someone so close to the area.”

“Prentiss, Morgan, I want you to meet the officers at the abduction site, find out anything you can,” Hotchner says, and the two dutifully nod. “JJ, Reid, Rossi, Johnson, and I will go back to the station and see how we can set up a profile there.”

She fights to keep a grimace off her face. Ugh, back to being stuck with him _again_ , sitting for who knows how long and twiddling her thumbs.

“Actually, sir,” Prentiss starts, everyone turning to face her, “if at all possible, I would like Johnson to come with us.”

The surprise on Daisy’s expression isn’t faked at all. She gives the remaining team members a discreet glance to catch their reactions; Morgan doesn’t look at all surprised, JJ and Reid look like they’re bracing for a fight to break loose, Rossi...almost looks amused, and Hotchner’s expression tightens the tiniest bit. _Oh no._

“And why is that?” Hotchner asks.

“You don’t need five people in the station to build a profile,” Prentiss says. “This way it’s more evened out. And Morgan and I have already been out in the field - maybe Johnson can give us a fresh set of eyes.”

“I agree with Prentiss,” Morgan says, crossing his arms. “A new perspective couldn’t hurt.”

Daisy doesn’t really know what’s happening, and she’s pretty sure this is some sort of test, or some way for Morgan and Prentiss to question her alone, but the alternative is getting chastised for breathing loudly or something at the station with Hotchner. “I’m fine with that.”

Everyone stares expectantly at Hotchner. He doesn’t look happy, no surprise there, but he relents with a quick, “alright. Call if you find out anything.”

Thank fuck.

* * *

Daisy’s well aware that the second she’s alone with them, Prentiss and Morgan will probably start asking questions. Until now, she’s only been around them in the presence of their unit chief and while actively working the case. She can’t think of any other reason they’d request she come with them other than that. It’s not like they couldn’t have picked Rossi or Reid instead.

“How’re you liking the BAU so far, Johnson?” Morgan asks as he peels onto the road. Prentiss sits in the passenger seat, Daisy in the back. “I know seeing these types of cases can be tough.”

Daisy has to hold her breath and remind herself that they mean well. (Probably.) But she’s about to lose it if one more person implies that she can’t handle herself.

“It’s different from what I’m used to,” she says, “but I’ve seen my fair share of tragedies. I just want to catch this guy before he can cause more harm.”

He hums. “I hear you. How was working with Hotch and JJ at the station? I haven’t had a chance to ask you about it yet.”

Boring. Annoying. Could have been better if Hotchner didn’t scrutinize her every move. “Uneventful. Just going through information to establish a profile.”

“Did you and Hotch discuss anything other than the case at all?” Prentiss asks. Daisy’s eyes narrow in suspicion.

“We hardly talked at all,” she says evenly. “This is kinda starting to feel like an interrogation.”

She can see Morgan grinning from the rear view mirror. He peers up to meet her eyes through the reflection. “Just wondering, is all,” he says. “We might’ve overheard JJ telling Hotch that he needs to ‘cool it’ with you.”

Ah. There it is. “Really, it’s nothing. He didn’t agree with one of my suggestions and he told me so, end of story. Nothing that juicy, sorry to disappoint.”

Prentiss and Morgan share a look that Daisy can’t decipher. Really, for a group of profilers, she thought they’d be more discreet about this. “Hotch means well,” Prentiss says after a beat. “He’s just a pretty stoic person.”

Daisy knows stoic people that mean well. That’s literally the definition of Melinda May. Maybe that’s what Hotch is to the rest of the team, but not to Daisy. He acts around her the same way May acts around new agents she doesn’t trust: suspicious, skeptical, cautious.

“I can tell,” she says instead.

“He’ll come around soon, I’m sure,” Prentiss continues. “He’s...on edge right now. You know with the case, and adding a new member in so suddenly. He just…” she trails off and briefly darts her eyes towards Daisy’s in the rearview before looking away again, “...isn’t sure why Strauss ordered your presence.”

So that’s what this was about. Again. She fights an eye roll.

Morgan’s quick to jump into where Prentiss left off. “What we mean is adding a new member so suddenly is rare, and we just want - ”

“Alright, you can stop now,” Daisy interrupts. She doesn’t need to hear the rest of it. “You know, it doesn’t exactly take an expert profiler to notice that all of you, Hotchner especially, are suspicious of me.”

Neither of them respond to her comment, Morgan’s hands tightening on the wheel, Prentiss’s shoulders tensing. Daisy sighs and massages her forehead, leaning against the window until she feels the cold glass kiss the skin under her hair.

“There’s obviously something about Strauss you don’t trust,” she says after a moment, “and something _else_ that you think she wants me to find out from your team, and it probably relates to Hotchner. Whatever the hell it is, I can promise you I’m not here to find some dark secret or stalk you. I’m here because I have an assignment detrimental to _my own team_ and I need all the resources I can get. So if there’s a question you have, _stop_ wheedling around it. Just ask, and if I’m not allowed to answer, I’ll say so.”

Stunned silence greets her. The exhaustion she’s waved off hits her at full force, and now all she wants to do is curl up under a blanket and fall asleep. Maybe her reaction was a little too much, but she doesn’t care. If snapping at these people is the only way to get them off her case, so be it.

“...alright,” Morgan finally says. Daisy looks up, and although it’s hard to make out his expression, his body is relaxed and he’s back to driving with one hand. Prentiss sags more in her seat as well, Daisy notices. “I believe you.”

She blinks. She expected a little more resistance than that. “Seriously?”

“We’re profilers, aren’t we?” Prentiss says nonchalantly. “You sound genuine. I won’t lie that I’m curious about your background, but as long as it doesn’t interfere with our work, I don’t see a reason to press.”

Daisy doesn’t even realize until then that her nails are digging into the palm of her hand. She relaxes them, shoulders dropping in relief. “Thanks, I guess,” she says quietly, a smile tugging at her lips. Prentiss glances behind her shoulder and shares her own smile.

“There is, actually, one question I have, though,” Morgan says. Daisy raises an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“You see, Prentiss and I, here, have been debating this since we went to the bar earlier today and I was wondering if you could weigh in.” She has absolutely no clue about what this is about, but okay.

“Uh...sure,” she says.

“Harry Potter or Star Wars?”

 _What?_ She blinks and waits a second to wonder if she heard that correctly. “Huh?”

“There’s only one right answer, Johnson,” Morgan says, and she can hear the smile in his voice.

It’s...got nothing to do with Daisy, or who she is, or even about the case they’re working on. She’s taken back to the times she’s sat in the break room with her team and bickered about what the best snack is or why Fitz can’t bring a monkey on the base or why Coulson is banned from playing slap jack with them. Teasing, pushing, and laughing while they forget the constant war that always waits outside the base.

By the time she answers, she’s smiling, too. “Harry Potter, obviously.”

 _“Yes!”_ Prentiss exclaims at the same time Morgan groans, “oh c’mon, not you too!”

“What’s your House?” Prentiss asks, almost sounding like an excited child on Christmas. Daisy wonders for a brief second if she’s hallucinating all of this. Out of all the conversations she expected to have with the FBI, talking about her Hogwarts House wasn’t one of them.

“Gryffindor. You?”

Prentiss grins. “Slytherin.”

“I can’t believe I’m stuck here with the both of you,” Morgan complains half-heartedly.

“Johnson,” Prentiss says, “I believe you and I are gonna get along just fine.”

Daisy grins back, the most comfortable she’s been since arriving at the FBI Headquarters.

Prentiss and Morgan are easy enough to get along with, now that they don’t believe she’s out to get them or something. The majority of the car ride passes with the two of them debating all different kinds of topics, Daisy occasionally weighing in. Morgan also mentions stopping for coffee at some cafe near the police station later because he “needs caffeine in his veins” and doesn’t want the “sewage water coffee police stations always have.” His words, not hers.

Morgan’s phone buzzes when they near the rest stop, the squad cars and the flashing red and blue lights becoming larger and larger with every passing second. He answers it and puts the phone on speaker. “Talk to me, babygirl.”

 _“You know I love talking to you, my beautiful Derek Morgan,”_ a female voice on the side gushes. Daisy blinks and gives Prentiss a bewildered look, who just smiles and shakes her head as if to say, _yeah, that’s normal._ _“So, I made a list of all the truckers currently residing in or around Edgewood and I’ve got a whopping seven-hundred-eighty-two names.”_

“Jesus,” Prentiss mutters, all business again. “Think you can narrow it down to specific routes?”

 _“Morgan, you didn’t tell me we have an audience. How scandalous,”_ the person says, though the voice is amused. _“And I sure can, but it’ll still be a lot of names.”_

“Sorry, babygirl. It’s just me, Prentiss, and our new friend Johnson over here,” Morgan says. “We’re about to find out more from a new abduction site - I’ll let you know what else we find from it.”

 _“Ooh! Daisy’s there?”_ Daisy stares at the phone in surprise. _“Hey there, Agent Johnson. I tried to run to the conference room to meet you before you guys left, but I guess I was too late.”_ Realization dawns on her. The last team member she hasn’t met yet, the technical analyst. _“Penelope Garcia here. Just how much experience do you have with computer software, my friend?”_

Daisy huffs a laugh at the barely contained excitement and curiosity in Garcia’s voice. It’s been forever since she’s bonded with another person about her coding expertise. “Enough to know you tried to get past the encryption on my files on three separate occasions.” Morgan and Prentiss gawk at her. “I’m sorry I missed you, Agent Garcia. I look forward to meeting you when we get the chance.”

 _“...woah, you’re_ good, _”_ Garcia mutters. _“We’re gonna have to compare notes when you get back, ‘kay? With our supreme genius computer powers put together, we’ll be unstoppable.”_

“Okay, you’re terrifying me now,” Prentiss says while Daisy lets out a genuine laugh. Morgan pulls up to the rest stop and puts the car in park. “Thank you again, Garcia.”

_“Anytime, my lovelies.”_

Morgan and Prentiss turn to look at Daisy after Garcia hangs up, their eyes wide and mouths nearly dropping open. Daisy has to bite her lip to keep from downright cackling at their surprised faces.

“What?” she asks innocently. “Aren’t we supposed to check out the rest stop?”

The other two agents share a dumbfounded look in the front. “I have so many questions,” Morgan mutters. He turns the car off, however, and they all clamber out on the street, exposed to the light drizzle of rain.

Officer Harlow notices their arrival first and jogs over to greet them. “The daughter confirmed he was definitely driving a big rig. Now, she wasn’t able to make out any of the logos or see the plates.”

“I’d like to talk to her,” Prentiss says. He nods and motions over to the side.

A young teenager sits by the paramedics, a grey blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Even in the dark with only the police sirens as lighting, Daisy can see tears glistening on the girl’s cheeks. Sorrow pools in Daisy’s stomach, but she quickly looks away as Prentiss heads toward the teenager. Harlow starts walking closer to the rest stop, and Daisy and Morgan follow his steps.

“I got checkpoints at every route in and out of the county,” Harlow explains. “If he’s on the road, we’ll find him.”

“He doesn’t hunt at rest stops,” Morgan muses.

Harlow raises an eyebrow. “He just did.”

“But he’s always found his victims in public areas,” Daisy explains. “It’s isolated here. It’s unlikely he came with the intention to take someone new.” Morgan hums in agreement.

Harlow stops walking and stares dubiously at them. “But this is the perfect place to take somebody,” he continues.

“Not for this guy,” Morgan says. “The reason he goes to offender friendly environments is because it gives him a chance to interact with his victim. Here, he doesn’t have the chance to do that.”

“Well if he’s from here, why would he need a rest stop?”

“Maybe he’s cleaning up,” Daisy muses.

Morgan straightens at the suggestion. “You check the men’s restrooms yet?” he asks Harlow.

The officer nods. “Yeah. The sink is full of dirt in the men’s room.”

Daisy taps her fingers against her thighs and does a quick sweep of the area. Besides the rest stop, there’s no other building in sight. Isolated, close to Edgewood. She focuses on the vibrations nearby - minus the group of cops and paramedics at the scene, there’s not much activity of human life. Hardly any animal presence, either, though that could just be because of the rain. With no one around, this would be the perfect place to -

She rounds on Morgan. “He got a new victim. Which means he’s finished with the last one.” She sees the realization hit him.

“Which means he had to dump her,” he mutters. He turns towards the Sheriff. “Sheriff, I want you to have your officers spread out. Tell them to start with the ditches. He must have dumped a body around here somewhere.” Harlow nods and heads over to the other squad cars.

“You know, Johnson,” Morgan says, “we’ve been here for maybe five minutes and I can already tell Hotch made a mistake keeping you in the station all day.”

She flashes him a grin. “C’mon, we better start looking.”

* * *

Half an hour passes when Daisy and Morgan catch up to Harlow and where he found the body. They didn’t even have to question if this really was their UnSub - the strangulation and bloodied nails said it all.

Daisy frowns. Another young woman - this one couldn’t possibly be older than twenty.

“Strangled, metal shavings under her nails,” Morgan says whenever Prentiss catches up with them. He kneels next to the body to shine a flashlight on her neck. “He dumps her body. He cleans up at the rest stop and then just happens to stumble onto Nancy Campbell.”

“So he didn’t wait a minute between victims,” Prentiss says, tone puzzled, “and left the daughter as a witness.”

“What’s going on with him?” Harlow asks Morgan. He sighs and shakes his head.

“That’s what we need to find out,” he says.

Daisy’s not stunned or revolted, she’s seen her fair share of corpses, but she finds herself unable to look aware from the one in front of her. She doesn’t know who that victim used to be, but Daisy notes that she looks...sweet, nurturing. Like all the other victims. The kind of women she looked up to when she was still a child.

“Johnson?”

She looks up to find Morgan and Prentiss giving her concerned looks. “You okay?” Morgan asks.

Daisy nods. “Yeah, just thinking.”

Prentiss raises an eyebrow. “What is it?” Daisy shrugs.

“It’s probably nothing. I brought the idea up to Hotchner back at the station and he didn’t agree with me.”

“Well, we’re not Hotch,” Morgan says. “It’s not like we have anything else to go off of at the moment. Hit us.”

She glances back down at the body and sighs before looking away. “So, you know how I said on the jet that this guy’s trying to get something in particular from his victims, and that’s why the abduction period differs.”

He nods. “Yeah. Trying to get these women to live out a fantasy, maybe.”

“See, that’s the thing. I don’t think it’s a fantasy. Or not a sexual one, at least.” Morgan and Prentiss share confused glances but don’t attempt to interrupt. “There’s some sort of trait that he’s looking for in them. For some of these women, he can tell fairly early that she doesn’t have it, and for some women, it takes longer. I think he’s trying to make these women fill the role of a wife, or something.”

Daisy waits for one of them to dismiss the idea and go back to coming up with their own profile. To her surprise, though, they don’t.

“It’s a possibility,” Prentiss eventually says. “These women are young, attractive. Anyone that’s known them says that they’re kind and sweet. Sexual sadists that typically go after this kind of victim gets off on torture and degredation - his way of showing he can taint what’s ‘pure.’”

“And other than the strangulation to kill these victims, there’s no other sign of sexual sadism,” Morgan finishes.

Daisy’s mildly disgusted. And kind of glad that out of all cases she could have started on with them, it hopefully _doesn’t_ have to do with this...sexual sadism stuff.

“But we still don’t know what made him go to Nancy Campbell,” he counters. “Even if he is looking for some sort of lifetime companion, he drastically changed his victim type in the span of minutes.”

She hums and picks at her nails. “Maybe he happened to see her and saw the trait he’s been searching for, and the opportunity was too tempting for him to pass up.” Even she can admit that it’s kind of a longshot, but like Morgan said, it’s not like they had anything else to go off of.

“And what trait would that be?” Morgan asks. She sighs and rakes a hand through her hair.

“I don’t know,” she confesses.

“That’s our job to figure out,” Prentiss says. Daisy notes how neither of them dismiss the idea, even if they don’t fully seem sure of it. At least they aren’t assholes about it. “C’mon, we should head over to the station.”

They drive Courtney Campbell to the station as well, and since Prentiss has already talked to her, sits with Courtney in the back.

She doesn’t speak much, not like Daisy expected much else. The girl just watched her mother get _kidnapped_ , after all. But the few times Courtney does speak, she asks questions. About how they’ll find her mother, what’s going to happen next, if there are any leads about who the UnSub is. Prentiss does most of the answering. It’s obvious Courtney’s confused, scared, lost. Unsure of what the next day, let alone _hour_ , will bring her.

It reminds Daisy of when she was that age. Granted, she _did_ pretty much run away when she was seventeen, but she remembers being a teenager desperate for even footing. All wide, teary eyes and false confidence and a fragile sense of self. It’s different, she knows. Courtney’s lived a fairly stable life unlike Daisy, but she can still see the parallels. Courtney’s terrified for her mother, while Daisy had yearned for one.

It hits her then. Mother. Nancy Campbell was a mother. Caring, kind, and nurturing. Like the past few victims were, but younger and childless.

She thinks of growing up praying she would experience that kind of love. She thinks of when she used to stare at mother-daughter pairs and feel a pang of loneliness. She thinks of years and years and years later, when she met Cal and later Jiaying, and Daisy told him, “ _I found out who my mother was today. That was possible because of you.”_

And she thinks of Cal, worn with stress and age, teary-eyed, bittersweet smile on his face. _“That’s all I ever really wanted for you.”_

“Hear me out,” Daisy says after they get to the station and escort Courtney to sit with an officer. “So he passes Courtney and everything, doesn’t even consider taking her, even though she’s closer to the other victims’ ages.”

They enter their temporary work space, vacant besides the three of them, and turn to look at the board. Daisy’s eyebrows shoot up at the amount of new victims the team’s found in the few hours they were gone.

“It’s strange,” Morgan agrees. “But like you said, there’s something in Nancy Campbell that he thought would make a good companion.”

Huh. Maybe they actually _did_ agree with her theories.

“But think about it.” She looks back at the board, eyes landing on the earliest victim then trailing to the latest. “He starts with prostitutes, gas station workers, then he slowly works his way more and more to low-risk victims. Like he knows that to find what he wants, he has to build up to what he really wants.”

“So he starts going after bartenders, college students,” Prentiss says. “And now, a mother.”

“Exactly,” Daisy says. “What if the role isn’t necessarily a companion, but a mother?”

* * *

Apparently, by the time they all met at the station, the news already announced Nancy Campbell’s disappearance. Something that hopefully wouldn’t push the UnSub to kill her early or take off entirely.

Even if not everyone believed he would take off.

“Look,” Daisy says. The whole team’s been going in and out of their work room for the past hour or two, with JJ currently talking to the press, Morgan checking a truck stop, Prentiss talking to Courtney Campbell, and Reid talking to the M.E. about the most recent body. Right now it’s just Daisy, Rossi, and Hotchner alone in the room, and she’s not moving until Hotchner at least _listens_ to her. “I’m telling you, he has to be staying in the area. He’s stayed in Edgewood so far, he wouldn’t just leave now.”

Hotchner sighs out his nose and crosses his arms. He’s standing at the other side of the table from Daisy, with Rossi plopped on a seat next to him. “He certainly can. The UnSub is a trucker who’s taken women from at least five different states. He has the means and the transportation to do it.”

“Sure he _can_ , but he _won’t_ ,” she emphasizes. “Something made him take Nancy Campbell literally a _second_ after he dumped the last victim. And what does this guy notice before he takes her? He sees that she has a daughter in the car.”

The unit chief looks ready to argue again, but Rossi beats him. “Johnson has a point, you know. He’s stayed in Edgewood this long, if he has some grand plan to finish or fantasy to bring to life, he won’t won’t leave now.”

“But suggesting that our UnSub is looking for someone to fit a caregiver role after only one victim matches that description isn’t concrete enough,” Hotchner says. Even past his stern, steady voice, Daisy can hear his patience wearing thin.

Good. So was hers.

“So is that what we’re waiting for? Another body?” she snaps. Controlled anger flashes in Hotchner’s eyes. “It makes _sense_. The guy is a trucker, isn’t home often, probably has a child that’s in the foster system and about to be taken from him permanently. So he convinces himself the one way he can make her happy is giving her what every little girl wants: a mother. And he’s looking for the perfect one.”

“Little girl?” Rossi questions, sounding genuinely curious.

She fights the blush that dares the spread on her cheeks. Too exposing. “Or boy. But with how hard this guy’s trying, it has to be a girl wanting a maternal figure.” She has no idea if that’s true. All she knows is that she won’t open up to these people about her dirty laundry, especially now.

“While we’re putting together a complete profile, we’ll keep your theory on the back burner,” Hotchner says, eyes narrowed and jaw rigid. “But we still have other angles to check, rest stops to visit, people to question.” Daisy wants to scream. That would take too _fucking long_ . Her heart thuds in her chest and heat spreads to the tips of her ears. “This is your first case with the BAU, Agent Johnson, and I expect you to respect my authority of this team. You’ll learn that cases and criminal profiles are hardly as simplistic as you seem to believe it is.” Simplistic? _Simplistic?_ She works for a spy organization that deals with robots, Inhumans, and mad scientists on the regular, and he thinks she believes all cases are _simple?_ “So if there’s something else you’re looking for here, the Behavioral Analysis Unit isn’t for you.”

Daisy sees red.

She has to breathe deeply, recall the Tai Chi she used to do with May, to keep from quaking something in the room apart.

There’s a woman missing, a daughter that could be orphaned, and a serial killer on the loose and Hotchner still thinks Daisy’s hidden motive is to tear his team apart or find a way to fire him.

Government rules and protocols be damned, she’s never, _ever_ , walked away when someone needed her help. S.H.I.E.L.D. related or not, Nancy Campbell is Daisy’s responsibility and she doesn’t care if she has to hack on her phone and quake the killer’s truck apart. She _knows_ she can find Campbell before even a full hour can pass. And the thought that this _fucking agent…_

She takes a step forward, inhales a breath to quell the fire growing in her chest. “Say what you want, Agent Hotchner, but it’s obvious you’ve had some sort of personal vendetta against me from the moment I entered your office. Whatever the hell it is, you can take it up with me later. But right now, my only concern is finding our killer and making sure that the teenager sitting on the other side of this wall doesn’t become an orphan.” She dares another step. Hotchner doesn’t back down, meeting her eyes straight on. “And quite frankly, the excuses you keep giving me are utter bullshit and I think you know that.” He sucks in a sharp breath. “So, _respectfully_ , please pull the stick out of your ass. Give me a legitimate reason you don’t believe my theory, and I’ll shut up and let you handle this however you like. _Sir.”_

Hotchner’s face is red. Red, angry, and stern as he gazes at her unwaveringly. She glowers right back at him.

Screw the FBI. Screw the fucking government and their stupid rules. If Daisy has to fight tooth and nail against the Senate and US government then so be it, but she’s _not_ letting these people near her department if _this_ is how it’s always gonna be.

“...Rossi,” Hotchner finally says. And _oh,_ Daisy forgot that someone else was here.

She tears her eyes away from Hotcher and glances down to see Agent Rossi sitting at the table, chin propped on the palm of his hand, looking as if he’s holding in a laugh. “Yes?” he asks expectantly.

“Call in the rest of the team. It’s time to put together the profile.” Then he briskly walks away, out of the room to who knows where.

She blinks at the door he just left out of. Did...did she just convince him?

She turns back to where Rossi is still sitting, grinning and shaking his head. “Damn, kid,” he mutters, impressed. “I didn’t know you had that in you.”

Saying she’s confused would be putting it lightly. She’s still not sure if she should be angry or relieved, frustration still itching under the surface. “Er…”

“Do me a favor and get Prentiss?” he asks. “I’ll call Morgan, Reid, and JJ.”

* * *

It turns out that _yes_ , Daisy did, somehow, manage to convince Agent Hotchner to actually consider her theory. When everyone’s gathered together in the room again, he starts by saying, “There is no sign of sexual assault or rape on any of these victims. Due to this, it’s possible that Agent Johnson’s theory of companionship is correct.”

He says it all while very actively not looking at her, but she can live with that. If anything it makes her even more smug.

“You know,” Reid says, “there might be an almost chivalrous aspect to this.Truckers have a romanticized image of themselves, all lifestyles revolving around the open road do. The Hell’s Angels for instance, they refer to their women as their old ladies, but in fact there’s no one they’d rather protect or die for. Their treatment of women wouldn’t be out of place in King Arthur's Court.”

Daisy gapes at him for all but two seconds before it gives way to a smile. _There’s_ the genius, three PhDs doctor at work. That information isn’t something Fitzsimmon would ever find interesting enough to read over, but she can still picture the questions Simmons would ask and the rambling discussions that would undoubtedly follow.

“Their sense of isolation would amp up the fantasy,” Morgan agrees.

“And he’s going after women that can fulfill the companion role, now,” Rossi says. “Compassionate, warm, kind. The bartender who takes extra care of you, the chatty hitchhiker. It’s with Campbell that his victimology takes a drastic leap.” He finishes by looking at Daisy, eyebrows raising expectantly. She hesitates only for a moment before she finishes where he left off.

“It’s the abduction of Campbell that leads me to believe he’s also looking for a mother,” she says. Everyone’s eyes land on her (par Hotchner’s, of course). “The traits he’s looking for are the traits not only a wife would have, but a mother. And I think in his mind, after seeing that Nancy Campbell has a daughter, he decided she was the perfect candidate.”

“To him, she’s already passed the test,” Prentiss muses.

“And if he has a kid in the area, it explains why he always comes back to Edgewood,” Morgan says.

Rossi pulls out his phone and dials a number on speakerphone. Daisy smothers a smile when she hears Garcia answer, _“office of supreme genius speaking.”_

“Garcia, I need you to narrow down the own authority trucker list and tell me which ones have been through a divorce or a custody battle recently,” he orders. Rapid keyboard typing resounds through the other side. “The custody battle would be a stressor, so limit your searches to months prior to the first murder.”

“But if this guy is looking for the perfect mother, he wouldn’t be tearing his kid away from the current mother,” Daisy rebuttals. _Now_ she feels Hotchner’s eyes land on her for a brief second before looking away. “It could be an instance where the mother died and the state doesn’t deem him fit as a guardian.”

Rossi grins at her, almost like they’re both in on some sort of secret. “Prioritize cases where the mother died. You got all that?”

_“Got it, thanks.”_

Officer Harlow walks in the room, expression solemn. Daisy sits up from her perch on the tabletop and watches him expectantly. “What is it?” she asks.

He looks over his shoulder, and she can see his gaze land on Courtney Campbell before looking back. Dread pools in Daisy’s stomach. “A body’s been found off of I-40.”

“Is it Nancy Campbell?” Rossi asks.

“Don’t know. I’m about to drive out and confirm it if you’d like to join.”

“Rossi, go to the dumpsite with the Sheriff,” Hotchner orders. “Call the second you find out anything. The rest of us will stay here to deliver the profile.”

“Sure,” Rossi says amiably. “I’m taking Johnson with me, though.” Daisy reels back and doesn’t bother hiding her stare. She’s starting to feel like the team’s hot potato at this point. “Let’s go, kid.”

And, well. Hotchner hasn’t said anything otherwise. And she sees no reason _not_ to go with him.

She slides off the table and follows Rossi out. Maybe she should just stop questioning the team’s actions around her at this point.

* * *

Daisy’s spent the majority of the case with at least two other people present with her at all times. She didn’t question if it was some sort of protocol since she’s not a member of the team or if they simply didn’t trust her. As annoyed as she is with the situation, having to be supervised by agents at all times doesn’t surprise her. She can even understand where they’re coming from.

Point being, this is the first time she’s been alone with a member of the team since they landed in Edgewood - excluding when she and Morgan trekked through the woods with a handful of police officers.

WIth Hotchner and JJ, she knew that Hotchner just wanted her where he could see her. With Morgan and Prentiss, she guessed that they wanted to question her some more - which she assumed correctly.

With Rossi...she’s not so sure. Alone with him in the squad car, despite his calm composure, she gets the sense that he’s almost... _giddy_ with the opportunity to talk to her. Though, that might have to do with her and Hotchner’s _scene_ from earlier. 

She winces to herself. Now that the anger’s gone from her system, she realizes just how terrible that argument went. She knows she’s not in the wrong for calling him out for his behavior towards her, but maybe the...last bit was too much. And in front of a member of his team, no less.

She wouldn’t be surprised if Hotchner requested Daisy _not_ to come back. She at least hopes Strauss won’t take this out on Coulson or S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole.

So. Her first plan failed spectacularly. Two days, and she might as well abort one of her first major responsibilities as a department head.

Maybe the CIA would be willing to work something out.

“You know,” Rossi starts, pulling Daisy out of her musings. “I talked to Agent Morgan about your performance at Nancy Campbell’s abduction site.”

She gives him a confused glance, but he doesn’t look away from the road. “Oh?”

“Said you were a natural at it. You figured out it was a dump site before anyone else, guessed that the UnSub is after companionship. He also said that by the time you got back to the station, you’d already figured out that the UnSub wants a mother in these women.”

“...thank you?” she says. She’s not sure what he’s getting at.

“How’d you figure it out?”

She figured it out because she thought of her own experiences. Everything from when she was an orphan wishing a family would take her in, to when Cal beamed at her, as terrified as she was, and he said, _“I wanted everything to be perfect.”_

“I just thought about the traits the last few victims all shared, and how Nancy Campbell fits into that equation,” she says.

“And the dump site?”

Daisy shrugs. “He always dumps the bodies in secluded areas off the road, and there were woods stretching for miles by the rest stop.”

Rossi finally shoots her a look. “I know you’re some ultra classified hot shot or whatever,” he says, and she grins at the wording. _Such a grandpa._ “And you might not be allowed to tell me, but I gotta ask. Have you done field work before?”

“I have. Not in criminal profiling, exactly, but yeah.”

He hums. A silent pause follows, until he says, “there’s something you’re not telling me.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah,” she deadpans. “I’m a super ‘ultra classified’ person, as you so eloquently put. There are a lot of things I’m not telling you.”

He huffs a laugh. “Not that. I mean about this case.” His good-natured teasing vanishes and he gives her another pointed look. “There’s something in the case that you can connect with on a personal level.”

She snaps her gaze over to him, eyes wide and unsettled. “What?” she asks blankly. _How could he even know that?_

“I’m good at what I do.”

Her eyes land back on the stretch of road before them. “Yeah, I guess there is,” she admits softly. She can see him nodding from the corner of her eye.

“We all get cases like those sometimes,” he says. “I won’t pry, but I just wanted to let you know that if you need a breather, tell me. Hopefully we can wrap this up by the end of the day, but you never know.”

Did Rossi just...parent her? “Thank you, Agent Rossi. But I promise I’m okay. I can handle myself just fine.”

“Oh, I know,” he says, grinning full force again. “I got to witness that first hand.”

She winces and buries her forehead in her hand. She’s _not_ looking forward to when this is all over and she either gets an angry phone call from Strauss or an unneeded lecture from Hotchner. “...yeah.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry kid. It helps that you ended up being right all along. Trust me, your input is greatly appreciated.”

She stares at him. He really just requested she come along with him so he can mentor her and laugh about her spat with Hotchner.

It’s almost like she’s talking to a Coulson. A rich, Italian, FBI profiler, grandpa Coulson. She smiles to herself at the thought.

* * *

The body isn’t Nancy Campbell’s. On the up side, there’s still a chance they can find her alive. On the down side, though, this means the UnSub isn’t killing only women he’s abducted anymore.

“If this is the work of the UnSub, he didn’t pose her like all the others,” Rossi muses. “And it’s more brutal. It feels personal.”

Daisy can’t say she disagrees. This victim, an older woman that had to be in her fifties or sixties, truly _looked_ like she was dumped off the side of the road. Paired with the finger-shaped marks along her throat and the bruises on her face...yeah, definitely personal.

“Assuming he’s doing all this for his child,” she starts, “what if he viewed this victim as an obstacle? Maybe a relative who’s denying him access to his child.”

“Could be,” Rossi says.

“Her name is Lynn Clemons,” Harlow says, reading off the victim’s ID. “Deputies found her wallet about a hundred yards up. Must have spilled out when he dumped her.” (Seriously left the driver’s license and everything? Talk about a sloppy serial killer, Daisy thinks.)

Rossi pulls out his phone dials a number on speaker a second time. By now, she has a pretty good idea who he’s calling.

_“Garcia here.”_

“Garcia, we need everything that you have on a Lynn Clemons,” Rossi says.

 _“Lynn Clemons?”_ Garcia asks, taken aback. Daisy and Rossi share a look. _“She’s the...foster parent of Jody Hatchett. I was just telling the others her father, Wade Hatchett, is the only trucker in the area that lost custody of his daughter when his wife died. Jody’s in the process of being adopted.”_

“We have our UnSub,” Rossi says. Daisy’s breath hitches. She knew she was probably right, but... _holy shit_ , she was actually right. “Is the team on their way to his house?”

_“No. He only has a P.O. box.”_

Realization dawns on her. “He just killed the only person that stood in his way,” she says.

“Which means he’s going after his daughter,” Rossi finishes. “Garcia, where’s Jody Hatchett right now?”

_“She’s most likely at her school, Lincoln Elementary, but the students get out in twenty minutes.”_

“Thank you. Send me the address of Lynn Clemons and tell the others.” He hangs up and gives Daisy a grave expression. “We have to get to Jody before her father does.”

* * *

The house, as expected, is empty when they get there.

Daisy and Rossi arrive last, with instructions to park a block away as to not alert Wade Hatchett of their presence. Before they walk over to the house, though. Rossi pulls out two pairs of bulletproof vests and tosses one to Daisy.

“Thanks,” she says.

“Uh huh. And one last thing.” He digs deeper into a crate stashed in the trunk, muttering _there it is_ under his breath when he finds what he wanted. He pulls it out and it’s - 

In one hand it’s a pistol, no different than the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. issued ones. His other hand holds a loaded mag and a holster.

“Noticed you must have forgotten yours,” he says. “But we need to be prepared, and one of the only things your file _did say_ is that you’re authorized to carry.”

She wants to hit herself for how dumb she is. She forgot her gun, alright. But not even at the station, or in the hotel room. All of the weaponry she intended to use is locked in the gun safe at the Quantico safehouse.

It’s not like she even needs a gun, or a bulletproof vest, even. But no one else knows that. She’s just glad it’s Rossi who noticed her lack of protection and not Hotchner.

“Shit, my bad,” she apologizes sheepishly as she hurries to fasten the holster and strap the gun. “I’ll uh, remember it next time.” Assuming there is a next time, that is. Rossi only hums.

Hotchner’s waiting by the door when they walk up the driveway, opening it to let them in. Just like Rossi and her, he’s taken off his suit jacket and strapped down an FBI vest.

It’s weird wearing something that has _FBI_ in bold letters splayed across her chest. Like she’s one of them. Even with S.H.I.E.L.D. out of the shadows, she’s never worn anything that displays the agency so openly. (Though they’re a spy organization, so that’s probably the point.)

“JJ called the school when we got here,” Hotchner says as a greeting. “Jody always takes the bus, and it just left fives minutes ago. We can assume she’ll be here in about ten minutes.”

“Any sign of her father?” Rossi asks. Hotchner shakes his head.

Daisy walks deeper into the house. Morgan, Reid, and JJ are all in the living room, strapping on their vests and discussing tactics. She glances around the hallway and pauses at the only open door, a shadow barely visible through the light. She feels the vibrations of the house, and from the lack of any other presence besides that room and the living room, she assumes Prentiss is the one inside.

She steps in, cracking the door open further, and Prentiss looks up from where she’s staring at a wall decorated with a child’s paintings. “Hey,” she greets before turning back to the wall.

“Hey,” Daisy says, looking around the room. It’s no doubt Jody’s. The kid’s bed has pink, rose-printed bed sheets, there are stuffed animals laying all around, and trinkets of princess toys lined on her shelves. She stands next to Prentiss and focuses on the drawings taped to the wall.

The first thing she notices is that they all fit the same theme: a family of three, a father, a daughter, and...a mother that’s always lying on the ground.

“Did she draw her mother...dead?” Daisy asks incredulously.

“That’s definitely what it seems like,” Prentiss says. She sighs and shakes her head sadly. “This poor girl. Do...do you think she knows what her dad is doing?”

“I don’t know,” Daisy says honestly. “Maybe she believes something else, like he’s dating around or something. But one thing’s for sure.” She trails a finger down a watercolor painting, staring at the mother, painted on her back with an eerie smile to match. “One day she’s gonna realize what happened, and she’s not gonna be the same.”

Prentiss grimaces and crosses her arms. “It’s depressing, the amount of children I’ve seen learn that their fathers are serial killers.”

Daisy doesn’t reply - there’s nothing she can say. Because it _is_ depressing. She was twenty-six when she found out, a full grown adult, and she still remembers standing in a pool of blood of the people her father had just killed. Even when they parted on bittersweet terms, Daisy knowing he used to be a different man, the lives he took weren’t something she could pretend never happened. And she’s not exactly sure how to say _yeah, I know. It fucking sucks_ , without revealing that her dad used to be a serial killer.

“Prentiss, Johnson,” Hotchner calls out for them.

“Duty calls,” Prentiss mutters, as her and Daisy leave for the living room. The second they step inside, Hotchner begins giving orders.

“Morgan, I want you outside with the police tactical team in case things go south. Prentiss, JJ, when Jodie comes, I want you two to escort her in and make sure her father doesn’t try and take her. Rossi, Reid, Johnson, and I will stay in the living area. If he is in a truck, we have a radio here we can try and contact him through.”

He hands her a comm link, one with a wire going behind the ear unlike the S.H.I.E.L.D. ones, but she nods at him and puts it in. He’s still not looking at her in the eye, but he approached her nonetheless, so she’ll take it as a good sign.

“Everyone in position?” Hotchner asks once every disbands.

 _“Yes, sir,”_ Morgan says through the line. _“The minute we see either the bus or the truck, I’ll let you know.”_

Daisy stands behind the large sofa, Reid to her right and Rossi to the left, with Hotchner in front of the couch. She drums her fingers against a cushion, eyes not peeling away from the window right in front of their view. It has to have been longer than ten minutes from the time she arrived, and Jody _nor_ her father were anywhere to be seen. He could have already managed to get her already, and be halfway across the next state by the time anyone notices. He could have - 

A new thrumming under Daisy’s skin makes her pause. She splays her palm across the back of the couch and concentrates on the vibrations.

Large vehicle, long. Around a dozen heartbeats inside. Almost a block away.

“The bus is coming,” she blurts.

Five pairs of eyes turn to her. “What?” JJ asks.

Shit. Daisy really needs to get a hold of her impulse control. “I think the bus is coming.”

Prentiss blinks in confusion. “There’s no way to know that for certain.”

Before Daisy can pull some excuse out of her ass, Morgan says from the comms, _“School bus incoming.”_

Hotchner stares at Daisy. The only change in expression is his slacked jaw, but it’s still the most caught off guard she’s ever seen him. “Morgan just confirmed.”

Their stares don’t go away. “What? I just knew it’d been around ten minutes since you told us the bus would come in ten minutes.” It’s a stretch, she’s well aware, but give her a break. She’s sleep deprived and running on pure adrenaline right now.

“Actually, it’s been eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds,” Reid says. Everyone gives him a brief startled look, Daisy included, but at least it gets the attention off of her.

Prentiss walks Jody inside as soon as the child’s dropped off from the bus. It’s not long after that when Daisy feels a new vibration - two heartbeats, one panicked and irregular, and the rumbling of a vehicle. She waits this time for Morgan to confirm it.

“Hey Jody, can you show us your room?” Prentiss asks as the truck pulls forward. Jody nods in excitement and leaves with Prentiss and JJ.

 _“Somebody is moving towards the front of the cab,”_ Harlow says.

 _“It’s Nancy Campbell,”_ Morgan confirms. “ _Hatchett’s behind her and he’s got his gun on her.”_

Daisy silently curses. God, she could _end this_ right now. She could quake his gun apart and march in there and take Nancy Campbell away and be done with it. But instead, she has to stand here, helplessly, as she overhears Morgan trying to come up with a way to take the shot.

In the end, Hatchett lets Campbell go. It takes Jody speaking to her father through the radio, saying she wants to me ‘the queen,’ and Daisy feels heavy at the girl’s innocence.

“She’s so pretty, Daddy!” Jody explains. After the police secure Campbell and lead her away, Jody blinks in confusion. “Why aren’t you coming?”

 _“It’s alright, sweet girl,”_ he says. _“Daddy’s going to the better place.”_

Daisy exchanges a look with Prentiss. The better place?

_“Close your eyes, sweetheart.”_

It hits her then, and she sees it dawn on everybody else around her. “Turn around, Jody,” Prentiss quickly says, turning Jody around and hugging her to her chest.

Daisy sees it all in slow motion. She _almost_ lifts her hand, almost sends a quake towards the truck to destroy his gun, or even break his hand if she has to, but catches herself at the last moment. She can’t. Not without risking shattering the windows or quaking the house.

So she watches helpless as Morgan sprints to the truck to no avail. She’s frozen in place as she hears the gunshot echo.

* * *

The adrenaline that kept her going is out of Daisy’s system by the time they wrap up the casework, pack up, and load on the jet.

Everyone’s tired, and she can’t blame them. Even after they took Nancy Campbell back to the station to see her daughter and handed Jody off to her caseworker, they had to assist the Edgewood police in wrapping up reports and taking down their temporary set up.

(And, if by the time they took everything down, the caseworker admitted that Jody’s adoptive parents heard the news and backed out, leading Daisy to hide in the restroom while she hacked into the Hatchett’s files through her phone and found Jody’s estranged aunt on her mother’s side and left an anonymous message about Jody needing a guardian - well, no one has to know.)

They stopped at some local diner to pick up food, ate while packing their things in the hotel, and loaded the jet when they were all ready. Now, just waiting until they land in Quantico, it’s the first moment any of them have been able to rest all day.

Some of the team are asleep. JJ’s passed out on one of the couches, Reid’s slouched on a chair in what _has_ to be an uncomfortable angle, and Rossi looks like he’s fighting to keep his eyes open. Morgan and Prentiss are talking quietly amongst each other, Hotchner’s getting something in the kitchenette up front, and Daisy...as much as she wants to sleep, can’t.

She drags a tired hand down her face. It’s instinct by now, she presumes, that keeps her chest tight at the thought of sleeping in a jet full of people she doesn’t know. She passes the time by looking out the window and counting down the minutes until they land, feeling the thrum of the engines and turbulence dance under her skin.

She’s not coherent enough to think about what her next step with this team is. Agent Hotchner hasn’t gotten the opportunity to talk to her alone, yet, but she’s waiting for the lecture he’ll no doubt give her. And depending on how _that_ goes...well, she’ll evaluate whether or not she still thinks this is a good idea afterwards.

As if summoned by her thoughts, she feels footsteps approach her, followed by Hotchner sliding into the seat across her. He’s still in his suit, although the tie and jacket are nowhere to be seen, and both of his hands are in his pockets. She gives him a questioning look.

“Oh, uh, hey, Agent Hotchner,” she greets.

“Johnson,” he says. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“You’re not.” Daisy slouches back in her seat and crosses her arms. “What’s up? Are you taking me up on my offer to yell at me?”

There’s a shift in his gaze, barely noticeable, but she can see his sternness dwindle even if for just a moment. “I wanted to...apologize for the way I’ve been acting towards you,” he starts. And, well, Daisy wasn’t expecting that. She expected at most a stoic, _you didn’t suck today_ and nothing else, and at worst a lecture that would wake up the entire team.

She blinks. “Apologize?”

He nods. “I know I was unnecessarily hard on you throughout this case, didn’t take your suggestions seriously. But you were right in the end - profiled the UnSub correctly before any of us did.” Holy shit. He’s actually apologizing to her.

A smile threatens to split on her face, and she has to bite her cheek. “Are you trying to give me a compliment, Agent Hotchner?” she asks with barely veiled amusement. She’s even more surprised when he doesn’t give her a _don’t push it_ type of look like May would. Instead, he gives her a barely there smile and huffs a laugh.

“Yes, I suppose that’s what I’m trying to do,” he confirms. “My team means a lot to me, and we weren’t given much information about your background, which made me suspicious of you. I let those suspicions cloud my judgement, both with this case and with your abilities, and it could have cost us Nancy Campbell in the end.”

She doesn’t fight her smile this time. Maybe Hotchner and her could work together after all.

“I get it,” she says, and means it. Maybe more than most do. “You want to protect your team, and I’m virtually an outsider. I would be cautious, too.”

Suddenly she sees how much they’re both in the same position, even if he doesn’t realize it. The only reason she’s here is because she wants someone she _knows_ she can trust with information on Inhumans. If Coulson had just randomly assigned someone she knew nothing about to evaluate her department, Daisy would put up a fight no matter how much she trusts the Director’s judgement.

“Well, you proved yourself to me with this case,” he says. “I’m looking forward to working with you, however long you plan on staying.”

It’s the second time he’s said he’s looking forward to working with her, but the first she knows he actually means. “I’m looking forward to it, too. And, uh, I’m sorry too. About telling you to...you know...”

“Yes, ‘pull the stick out of my ass’ is what I believe you said.” She reels at the response, and his lips tilt to the side. Daisy breathes out a bewildered laugh, eyes still wide. “You did say _respectfully_ , so I suppose I can let it slide.”

And...it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since she said those words to him, and swore to herself that she would never work with the FBI after this. Not even a full day since he dismissed every word she said and she considered quaking him apart, and now he’s apologizing and joking about when she yelled at him.

Fine. Maybe she can see where this whole BAU thing leads after all.

Neither of them move from their positions. Hotchner stares at Daisy with a searching but careful gaze, and she doesn’t hesitate to meet his eyes head-on. She sees that haunted look again, more in the open than when they first met, and Daisy feels guilt fester in the pit of her stomach.

She knows the other reason he believed Strauss sent her.

The words are coming out from her mouth before she can stop them.

“I want you to know, Agent Hotchner,” she starts, and her brain is screaming that this is a bad idea but she can’t stop, “that I _do_ know the other reason you thought I was assigned to your team.” And just like that, his protective, analytical wall is up again. “I was given information on all the BAU members when I was assigned and I - I know. I _promise_ you, though, that _no one_ sent me here to watch you for that reason. I didn’t even know until after I was told I would work with you.”

There’s another moment of stillness, silence bouncing off the walls. Hotchner studies her face, no doubt profiling anything she’s doing, but she keeps as calm as possible. Great, he was just starting to _not_ hate her, and she had to go and blow it.

“How do you know, then?” he finally asks. Enough time has passed that she almost jumps at his voice. “That I thought Strauss sent you for that reason?”

She doesn’t even have to think about that answer.

It’s a struggle to keep a grin on her face, even as humorless as it is. “Aren’t you the profiler, here?” She watches the realization trickle into his eyes with each passing second.

He freezes on the spot for another passing moment, until - “I’ll let you get some rest, then,” he says. Voice no nonsense and carefully even. Maybe awkward, too.

Daisy curses herself for blurting that she knew...but - 

But she knows that feeling too well. She remembers walking around the base days after Lincoln’s death, seeing other agents that didn’t witness the event and whom she had never talked to, that all _knew_ what happened. Their eyes followed her everywhere, they tried to act casual when she passed by but they couldn’t hide the sympathy in their gazes. Everyone acted so gentle, kind, until the point Daisy wished they would just _admit_ that they knew. So she wouldn’t have to live all those moments wondering if his death was passed around like gossip or if she just had grief written all over her face.

There’s no point in apologizing. She knows it won’t make him feel any better, might even make it worse. So she says, “alright. Good night, Agent Hotchner.” He nods and rises to leave, and Daisy looks back out the window.

“Johnson,” Hotchner suddenly says. Daisy narrows her gaze and faces him again, standing right by the seat he vacated. “You can just call me Hotch, you know.”

Her shoulders relax - she can’t recall when they tensed up in the first place. “Good night, Hotch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaand there's part two! daisy and the team have a long way to go, but things are starting to look up for them lol


End file.
